LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

Shelf 



UMTF.I) STATKS Of AMERICA. J 



RIPE GRAPES: 



OR, 



THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT 



BY 



REV. W. H. POOLE, LL. D., 

PASTOR OF SIMPSON METHOUIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, DETROIT, MICH. 



II 



i 




Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather gra 
thorns, or figs of thistles? 



CINCINNATI : 
WALDEN AND STOWE 

NEW YORK: PHILLIPS & HUNT. 
I88l. 




1> 



Mi 



W 



Copyright by 

WALDEN & STOWE, 

1881. 




INTRODUCTION. 



This little book is published with a view to 
supply, iu part, a want felt by thousands of our 
people. Much has of late years been said and 
written on Christian holiness, or the higher life, 
while comparatively little has appeared on the 
fruits of holiness, or the practical virtues and 
graces that ought always to accompany a profes- 
sion of Christianity. The Church, and the world, 
too, has had too much profession in proportion to 
the fruit borne. These few chapters on " Ripe 
Grapes " are intended as a brief outline of what 
is understood by the nine fruits of the Spirit. I 
commend them to God, and to his people of every 
name, praying the divine blessing may accompany 
the reading of these pages. 

Detkoit, 1881. W - H - P00LE - 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 

Introductory, 7 

I. Love, 14 

II. Joy, 55 

III. Peace, 87 

IV. Long-suffering, 103 

V. Gentleness, 120 

VI. Goodness, 129 

VII. Faith, 134 

VIII. Meekness, 147 

IX. Temperance, 155 

Conclusion, 162 



THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT. 



INTRODUCTORY. 

THE Church of God is spoken of in the Holy 
Scriptures as "a vine) T ard in a very fruitful 
hill." The owner dug the soil and enriched it. He 
gathered out the stones, and built a tower, or wall of 
protection, and he planted it with the choicest vine, 
and he made it fat with showers, and blessed the 
springing thereof. After all this labor and sacrifice 
in his vineyard, he naturally expected fruit. It was 
just and proper that he should look for this ; and 
that the vineyard should yield it in proportion to the 
care and culture of the husbandman. The just and 
righteous demand made was for "good fruit," "pre- 
cious fruit," "much fruit," "fruit unto perfection," 
"fruit unto holiness," "fruits meet for repentance," 
"the fruits of righteousness," "fruit that shall shake 
like Lebanon ; " fruit in every way becoming the 
character and care of the owner of the vineyard; 
" fruit that will show forth his praise." 

That there may be no mistake in a question of so 
much importance, God has given an assurance that 
for this purpose, we, his children, were chosen and 
ordained, that we should bring forth much, and that, 



8 THE PBUTI OF THE BPLBIT. 

in tho just administration of his government, it must 

ither fruit or ore. Therefor . ■ ■ II. that 

bringeth not forth good fruit is hewe down and cast 

into the fire." 

The teachings of our Lord and of hie 
on this point can not be misunderstood. They 
were eminently forcible and practical. Ji bus -aid, 
"I am the vine, ye are the branches: lie that abid- 
eth in me and I in him, the Bame bringeth forth 
much fruit;" "and herein is my father glorified, that 
ye bear much fruit;" "so shall ye be my disciples." 
The Apostle Paul said "The fruit of the Spirit is in 
all goodness and righteousness and truth;" and. "I 
desire fruit that may abound to your account;" "that 
ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleat 
being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in 
the knowledge of God;" " that we should bring I 
fruit unto God." " Xow he that *ministereth seed to 
the sower, both minister bread for your food, and 
multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits 
your righteousness; being enriched in every thing to 
all bountifulness, which causcth through us thanks- 
giving to God," — being filled with the fruits of 
righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the 
glory and praise of God. St. James -ays, "But the 
wisdom that is from above is first pure, then pel 
able, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of m 
and good fruits, without partiality, and without hj 
risy. Ami the fruit of righteousness is sown in } 
of them that make peace." 



INTRODUCTORY. 9 

A knowledge of the history and circumstances of 
the Church in Galatia may explain to us, at least in 
part, why the Apostle Paul, under the Spirit's direc- 
tion, enters so minutely into a specification of the 
virtues and graces that adorn and beautify the Chris- 
tian character. The province of Galatia took its 
name from a company of Gauls, who in the third 
century, B. C, invaded Asia from the West. Those 
people came originally from the East, and were on 
their way back to their own land, or to the land of 
their fathers. They were called Gallo-Grecians, Gaul- 
asians, and then Galatians. Their language was a 
compound of Gallic and Greek. They were a brave, 
liberty-loving people; in stature tall, of mercurial 
temperament, of an impulsive nature, of great energy, 
activity, and valor, and skilled in war. 

Dr. Whedon says of them: "The first syllable of 
the w r ord Galatians is identical with Gaul, an old 
name of France, and indeed with GaZ-lic, Gaelic 
(Welsh), as well as with the Celtic. It is the name 
of that great, brilliant, and brave, but fickle race, 
w T hich, once occupying Central Europe, was driven 
westward by the great Germanic tide pouring in from 
Asia, and which, gradually receding from the face of 
the invaders towards the Atlantic, now remains upon 
the western margin of Europe. This Epistle to the 
Galatians was therefore an epistle to the Celts." 
Those Gauls in Asia were forced by the fortunes of 
war, like a lonely bowlder amid the icebergs, away 
from their race and resting place, and they settled in 



10 THE PBUIT OP THE SPIRIT. 

B province of Asia Minor, where Paul in big n. 
an- lour found them, and was made a mcaaong 
them from God. His labors among them w< 
blessed, and they received him with great i 
their conversion to the Christian faith they sh 
Paul even- possible kindness, [ndeed, he says in 
writing to them, " If possible, ye would have pi 
out your own eyes, and have given them to 

During Paul's second visit among this people, he 
found that the noxious influence of false teacher 
led some of them from the simplicity cf the Gi 
and he wrote them a most characteristic letter, in 
which he unites the two extremes of his wonderful char- 
acter, tenderness and severity, both of which are the 
attributes of a man of strong mind and deep emotiona 
No language could be more tender and more touching 
than his fatherly appeals, and none more severe than 
the withering rebuke of his apostolic pen. See how 
severely he deals with the men ''who magnified 
themselves in conference," and how tenderly he draws 
the erring convert to his affectionate embrace. In 
this epistle the apostle defends himself and his former 
teaching among them. He reproved them for their 
instability and unfaithfulness; proved justification to 
be by faith in Christ and not by the works of the 
law; showed clearly that the deliverance from the bond- 
age of sin is associated with adoption and heirship, 
and that the whole law is concentrated in one word, 
Love ; that the exalted privilege of Clod's children 
is to be born of the Spirit, led by the Spirit, living in 



INTRODUCTORY. 11 

the Spirit, walking in the Spirit, sowing in the Spirit, 
and reaping spiritual harvests here, and then " of 
the Spirit to reap life everlasting." The works of the 
flesh and the fruit of the Spirit are clearly specified 
and contrasted. In this enumeration of the works of 
the llesh he dealt mortal blows to those Judaizing 
teachers who sought to compound Christianity and 
Judaism. lie shows that the flesh must be crucified, 
with all its unholy affections and lusts, for if we live 
in the Spirit and profess its guidance, let us also walk 
in the Spirit. In particularizing the affections and 
graces of the Spirit, he lifts Christianity up into the 
sun-light, and places it upon a lofty pedestal, directing 
the eye of the whole Church to the grandeur of a 
life-service so divine, and assuring them that "the 
fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, 
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance; 
and that against such there is no law." How forcible 
such a contrast between the works of the flesh and 
the fruit of the Spirit. Th-e one is to be opposed, re- 
nounced, put to death in the most painful way, cru- 
cified. The other is to be chosen, cherished, culti- 
vated. " For they that are after the flesh do mind the 
things of the flesh ; but they that are after the Spirit 
the things of the Spirit." " For the flesh lnsteth 
against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh ; 
and these are contrary the one to the other ; so that 
ye can not do the things that ye would." 

Paul says, " The works of the flesh are manifest," 
obvious, apparent, visible, evident. It is not so 



12 the raurr op the bpibit. 

affirmed of the fruit of the Spirit The work 

flesh are many, and arc given in the plural Dumber, 
because they arc diverse and scattered, and at ;. 
mutually hostile, and because one by one they DC tray 
the man; but the fruit of the Spirit is spoken of as 
one, being united and concordant, and is given in the 
singular number, being one in origin, nature, and 
results, and proceeding from one agency. These holy 
affections are not the -works of the believer, they are 
not the result of the human. They are the fruit, the 
product, effect, or consequence of the Holy Spirit 
dwelling in the new man, creating the new nature, 
and promoting the new life. 

Sin, all sin, is the work of the flesh, and is man's 
own, and is diversified, and by its power it contami: 
all the faculties of the mind and all the powers of the 
body. The fruit of the Spirit is from God, and is one 
bright and beautiful constellation of graces that are 
never separated from each other, though in their 
nature distinct. He who has one of those graces in 
its full development can not be entirely destitute of 
any other. In enumerating the works of the flesh he 
makes direct reference to those vices which were most 
common among the children of disobedience, and to 
which sinners are more inclined; and he maintains 
this order that he may enumerate the sins which we 
commit against God, against our neighbor, and against 
ourselves. 

The same order witli the same evident design is 
seen in giving the fruit of the Spirit. He mentions 



INTRODUCTORY. 13 

nine of those holy fruits, grouping them into three 
trinities of graces, composing a rich cluster of heavenly 
fruit. The first three refer to our relatious to God. 
The second three refer directly to our duty to our 
neighbor, and the last three to ourselves. The first 
include the inner graces of the heart: love as the 
fountain of all the rest; joy springing from a sense 
of love from God, and of love to God and man; peace, 
the calmer state of quiet and permanent joy. Dr. 
AVhedon says, "These are the three felicities and 
blessednesses of the Christian life, giving existence and 
strength to all the Christian virtues." 

The next group of three graces are the active ones, 
that go out in all the various forms of good will to 
our fellow men — long-suffering, gentleness, goodness; 
while the last three are those manifest qualities of 
character developed in every true Christian life. To 
each of these graces or fruits of the Spirit we now 
address ourselves. 



14 THE FKUH OF THL SPIRIT. 



I. Love. 

LOVE is the first sweet ripe fruit of the Spirit. It 
is a holy affection of the soul, that ha- for its 
object God and all goodness. It is the product of the 
new nature proceeding from the Spirit, and depending 
upon it as the fruit depends upon the tree. Lo 
the original spring of being, the soul of all virtue, the 
spirit of the new creation, the fountain of all moral 
and spiritual excellence, the sunshine of Christianity, 
the atmosphere of heaven. Love is the great centrip- 
etal force of the universe, controlling by its power 
thrones, dominions, principalities, powers, intel'' 
and hearts. It is a cord of heavenly origin linking 
souls together; fine as gossamer, but mightier far than 
adamant. It is a principle Btronger than death, wl 
holy fires many waters can not quench nor floods 
overflow. It is a deep current of divine influence 
running through the heart of humanity on and up 
to the infinite heart of God, bearing on its bosom 
not a mere faculty or power of the man, but the man 
himself, the whole man as a consecrated offering. The 
Alpha and Omega of religion is love. It is the fulfill- 
ing of the law. Love in its cultivation, its growth, 
and development is the true mission of Christianity, 
that affection which takes precedence of all the faeul- 



LOVE. 15 

ties and powers of the soul, asserting its authority and 
binding in mild submission to its own sway all the 
forces of the inner and the outer man. 

This love is but little known even as an idea, still 
less in its practical power. It forms the ouly true 
bond of Church association and alliance, and is the 
grand magnetic pole of all true Church sympathy and 
Church life. Love in us and in our kindred is a 
quality or principle that has to be transplanted from 
a sunnier soil and then nourished and cultivated by a 
gracious influence from above. As in nature, the 
sun, by means of the rays of light, paints mountain 
and valley, field and forest, woodland and garden in 
all the loveliest hues, carrying, as he does, in his own 
complex nature, the endless variety seen in the tinted 
beauty of fruit and flower; so does the Sun of right- 
eousness from his own royal love shine in Summer 
warmth into the garden of the human heart, produc- 
ing in that heart all the forms of loveliness by loving. 
Not waiting until we love him, he pours out of his 
own inexhaustible fullness that which he most admires 
in us, and by loving us with a love all his own he 
originates, controls, and directs all our love. If that 
organ sends out a melodious strain, I know that there 
is some one skillfully touching those keys. If my 
heart gives out the melody of love I know that some 
superhuman agency is playing upon it. If there be 
there emotions and affections, tendencies and experi- 
ences which do not come from man's touch or from 
my own volition, I know that it is the supernal touch 



16 THE FRUIT OF THE BPIBIT. 

and a divine influence resting upon inc. It is the 
love of God filling and tuning my heart. 

SUPREME. 

This love is supreme. It is the highest and p 
form of love of which man is capable — the 

purest, and noblest affection of his nature ; the q 
of his intellect and of his heart, governing with 
own mild sway all the faculties and powers of his 
being; the highest and holiest impulse that Beta and 
keeps all his powers in harmony with the will of ( 

The first grand principle of true philosophy ac- 
cords with the first and great commandment, "Thou 
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and 
with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all 
thy strength." This is to love him supremely ; to love 
God more than self and more than every thing 
outside of self; to love God in every thing and under 
all circumstances, and to love nothing but in reference 
to him; to be ready to give, to do, to Bay, t-^ suffer, 
as it may please him; to have neither love nor aver- 
sion, desire nor delight, hope nor fear, inclination nor 
aversion, but to honor and glorify him. 

True religion is not mere love to God ; it is su- 
preme love to him. Reason holds, as an axiom, that 
he who is supremely good should be supremely 1 
This supreme love to God alone accords with the voire 
of an enlightened conscience. That conscience utters 
her earnest and unwavering protest against the soul 
giving her chief affection to any other. Nor is her 



LOVE. 17 

voice hushed to silence until the soul can say, "Thee 
I can love ;" nay, in the more emphatic form : 
"Thee I do love, and thee alone, 
Willi pure delight and inward bliss." 

This supreme love to God is the only true medium 
through which we can view God's dealings to us in 
nature and in providence and grace. It furnishes the 
only true spirit by which we can be impelled to en- 
gage in the vast enterprises by which w T e can conquer 
self and the world for Christ. It is the only true 
armor of light, on the right-hand and on the left- 
hand, by which the Christian soldier can war a good 
warfare against all opposing foes. 

It is all-important, in order to secure a correct 
view of a landscape, that we have a good stand-point 
from which to make our observations. How small do 
the loftiest structures of human greatness appear from 
the brow of a lofty mountain ! The higher up you 
climb, the less of grandeur you see in the stately piles 
of art. How insignificant will all the pomp and 
pageantry of earth appear when we come to view 
them from the banks of the river of life, or from the 
footstool of the great white throne. 

The supreme love of the soul is the only mount 
of observation from which we can correctly estimate 
the works and the ways of God. From the mount 
of perfect love, as from a true Pisgah, we get views 
of God which we can get nowhere else. That is the 
true stand-point from which to form correct opinions 
of his dispensations to us and to ours. 



18 THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT. 

That point close by the cross and the blood of 
cleansing is the true observatory of the universe. To 
know God in hia works of nature, of provid nee, i r 
of grace, we must love him BUpremely. He that 

loveth not, knoweth not God. ''Every one that is 
born of God knoweth God." An American divine 
Bays: " There is no such thing as interpreting the 

will of God unless we have in us the true spirit of 
children. What is that spirit of children? It 18 
love, confidence that is begotten of love. If a man 
comes to the interpretation of an adverse or fortunate 
event in the spirit of pride, he will never know its 
meaning. God locks up his best blessings, but gi 
to every man a key wherewith he may open the 
One man takes his key, and he goes up to the lock, 
and tries to unlock it ; but his key will not fit. It 
will not go in, because it is pride that he has been 
trying to unlock with. Another man says. Let me 
try my key. He takes vanity as his key ; but van- 
ity will never unlock the mysteries of divine provi- 
dence, and reveal its hidden secrets. Another man 
comes up with the key of willful selfishness. His key 
is three times as large as the key-hole, and he can not 
get it in. They all fail to unlock the door, an 
away disappointed. By and by another man comes, 
and his key slides in and touches every ward ; the 
bolt slides back without a sound, ami the door flies 
open. He knows the secret, lie comes in the spirit 
of love, and to him God's will is revealed Pride 
could not open the door; vanity could not open the 



LOVE. 19 

door; selfishness could not open the door; love 
could." It is also important in order to a correct 
view of a landscape, that we see it through a proper 

medium. To see an object through a hazy, smoky, 
impure atmosphere or through a warped, ill-shaped, 
or discolored glass would be to get a distorted view, 
and thus to make a false impression. So. in viewing 
the dealings of God to us, we must look out on those 
dealings through the pure atmosphere of a supreme 
love to God. This medium never distorts. All other 
emotions and affections so stain and discolor, so darken 
and becloud the moral and spiritual horizon between 
the soul and God that its views are distorted, limited, 
indistiuct, and deceptive. 

Of this love we have had sporadic cases here and 
there, but it has never been wrought out into the 
public sentiment in any Church or in any age. Indi- 
vidual cases, with long intervals between, have been 
seen and their influence has been felt for good for 
the whole generation ; but of this love wrought out as a 
great ruling element of power in any of the Churches, 
or in any of the Christian nations, w 7 e have not yet 
had an example. This supreme, all-controlling love is 
what the Church needs so much to-day. 

Kehgion in the ages past spent most of its energies 
in erecting magnificent cathedrals and churches, organ- 
izing councils, founding ecclesiastical institutions, set- 
tling points of orthodoxy, marking out paths for human 
conduct, and inventing penalties for men who were 
too independent to bow and stoop below the low lintel 



20 'I HE FRUIT OF THE BPIBIT. 

of a test. In times more modern tin- Church has 
exhausted her Btrength in attempting to aettl 
of faith, catechisms, and rule- of Church order, while 
contentions about synods and conferei - ( irchordi- 
nances and ritualistic observances, combined with 
barefaced tricks for place, power, and profit have well- 
nigh shorn her of h( a h and destroyed her 
spiritual life. The only possible remedy for h<-r to-day 
is the all-consuming, all-constraining love for ( 
which will send her out in the name of Jesus to 
the souls of men, to break off every chain, to unl 
every fetter and in his name bid a dying world live. 
We need a love to God and to the souls of men that 
is pre-eminent, ardent, constant, self-sacrificing, endur- 
ing; a love that will suffer joyfully under repr 
and persecution for Christ, that is willing to do, to 
dare, and to die in the work of God; a love that 
constrains us, not in an heroic struggle here and there 
occasionally, but always, easily and on a large scale; 
not an isolated case here and there, now on this con- 
tinent and then on that, but a love which will fill the 
hearts of the multitude in all continents and in all the 
Churches, enabling each individual one with lips 
newly touched by a live coal from the altar t<> 
"Here am I, send me;" a love which will prompt 
Christian workers to go to Africa, China, Japan, or 
the great lone-land, not for a few years' recreation or a 
pleasant excursion or to try an experiment, but to live 
and labor on until the desert blossoms as the r« - 

Out of a nobler conception of this work of love 



1 ,0 V E. 2 1 

would develop a nobler experience and a nobler life, 
and a more complete and unreserved consecration to 
our work, and such an experience would develop the 
fruit of the Spirit in all the Churches upon a scale of 
magnificence such as has never been dreamed of. The 
love of Christ for us was a love sacrificing and suffer- 
ing for our sakes; a love that brought Jesus Christ 
all the way from that throne of glory to the cross and 
to the grave ; a love whose altitude and whose depth 
has never yet been measured. The Apostle Paul said, 
Eph. hi: "For this cause I bow my knees unto the 
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole 
family in heaven and earth is named, that lie would 
grant you, according to the riches of bis glory, to be 
strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner 
man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; 
that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be 
able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, 
and length, and depth, and height; and to know the 
love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye 
might be filled with all the fullness of God." 

Here is a love without self-consideration, without 
self-thought,. or self-assertion, with a spirit that shoul- 
ders another's burden, a love that considerately, con- 
sciously, calmly, and continuously suffers rather than 
that another should suffer. This is knowing some- 
thing of the love of Christ. "It thus behooved Christ 
to suffer," that in the example we might have concrete 
teaching of that love, which, by mere words could 
never be made known. The secret of that influence 



22 THE FRUIT OP THE BPIBIT. 

which the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ baa exerted 
and is now exerting, as also the pledge of its future 
power, is in this love-suflering for others I- e-euf- 
fering for others is the highest justice, the big 

purity, the highest truth, and the noblest government 

LOVE AND LAW. 

This love is not only the fulfilling of the law. hut 
it becomes a law itself, the law of love ; and under 
its government an intelligent and rational creature 
consecrates all its energies with perfect love under 

perfect law, and that love itself becomes the law of 
our being. It neither looses the bends of spiritual 
order, nor binds the sweet influences of spiritual free- 
dom. In substance and expression it partakes of the 
nature of God, for "God is love." Love is th. 
imperative word uttered by God in the Old and V W 
Testaments, and it is indelibly imprinted on the men- 
tal and moral constitution of man. It is the sum and 
substance of all the law and the prophets. Law and 
love! Love and law! These are the two mightiest 
forces in the universe. They were united in holy 
wedlock in heaven when Mercy and Truth nut to- 
gether, and "Righteousness and Peace kissed each 
other." The result of that divine union was the har- 
mony introduced among the attributes of God, and 
the reconciliation offered to man through J< bus Christ 
The place of the nuptials on earth is in the inner 
sanctuary oi^ the soul. The effect of that union lure 
is the harmony introduced between the conscience 



LOVE. 23 

and the will of the sinner, and his actual reconcilia- 
tion to God. 

Law is stern, majestic, the fountain of all order. 
Love is mild, wooing, winning, attractive, the fountain 
of all rational freedom. Love without law is capri- 
cious, weak, mischievous. When opposed to law it 
is wicked. Law without love is unlovely. Love 
without law is unholy. They two must become 
one and inseparable. There can be no- real peace 
or happiness for man here until love becomes the 
law of his whole being, and the Holy Spirit writes 
it on his heart and in his life. God has joined 
law and love together; and no man should attempt 
to put them asunder. In precisely the same way he 
has connected cause and effect, the end and the means, 
duty and interest, faith and works, work and its re- 
ward, the cross and the crown. If we want the 
reward we must do the work. If we desire the sweet 
affection of love we must not refuse the wholesome 
restraints of the law. We have a fine example of 
the absolute necessity of love in the individual char- 
acter, and also m the Church of God, as seen in the 
letter of Jesus to the Church at Ephesus. That 
Church had a noble record to its credit, yet with all 
its fidelity in good works, its correctness of life, its 
toilsome service, its unexhausted patience, its appro- 
bation of the good, its abhorrence of the evil, its scru- 
tinizing tests of character, its doctrinal orthodoxy, its 
ecclesiastical scrupulousness, its denominational zeal, 
its jealousy for the name of Jesus, its reputation for 



24 THE FBUIT OF THE SPIRIT. 

the truth, its courageous perseverance in the r 

way, it was a fallen Church. They had lost their 
first love. All their virtues and excellencies were no 
substitute for love. The true spirit of a Church 
gone, and although highly commended for their sound- 
in the faith and their purity of lif irere 
reproved for their want of love. All the oil, 
and dispositions of the mind may he combined and 
illustrated in the life of a citizen, but love is the only 
one that constitutes a Christian. 

Without this divine principle of the love of G 
the Church becomes in some measure like that sj .leu- 
did steamship just launched. She is finished in every 
part and furnished in every department. There is 
nothing left undone to make her a thing of beauty 
and delight ; but as yet her fires have not been kin- 
dled, her boilers are empty and cold. VYe survey 
her in every part, and compliment her in every par- 
ticular. Yet she is motionless. 11 w cm 
You can scarcely move her from the dock: and if 
do tow her out on the high seas she only drifts 
lure the wind, or floats upon the tide, like E 
our fashionable churches. With all her exquisite 
finish there is in her no power of self-motion, or 
control. You may ornament her decks and 31 
rooms from one thousand looms, and crowd her rig- 
ging with the flags of all nations and the streamers 
of all the seas, hut they communicate no element of 
real power. They give no moving force. The chief 
engineer comes and carefully examines her maclun- 



LOVE. 25 

ery and pronounces it all right ; science and art have 
done for her their very best; taste and genius have 
exhausted all their resources on that vessel, but as 
yet she can not move from her moorings. The cap- 
tain comes and issues the command "fire up," and in 
a few seconds her great heart warms and unseen 
forces begin to throb as if a new life had been im- 
parted ; her timbers begin to quiver under a new 
inspiration, a new element of power has been intro- 
duced, and under its influence she sets the whole 
harbor in motion, and moves off in defiance of winds 
and waves; she carries those elements of power within 
herself, and to all appearances, she becomes a con- 
quering thing of life. It is so in our Churches. We 
may have the artistic and the beautiful in all pro- 
fusion, genius, and learning, and eloquence, and all 
these are necessary and proper, and may all be used 
for God and his cause; but in order that the Church 
answer her great design, she must be filled with the 
sacred fire from off the altar. It was a law in the 
temple service of old that the fire must never go out. 
They were to keep it burning. We do well to remem- 
ber that it was "sacred fire," fire from the altar that 
touched the lips of the prophet. There is often much 
constitutional warmth, and many mistake it for the 
true flame. Sometimes we see the flashes of genius, 
or sparks of our own kindling, often a mere party or 
political zeal ; there is seen the feeble flickering of a 
narrow sectarian flame ; but none of these strange 
fires can in any true sense help the Church of God. 



20 THE PBUTI OP THE SPIRIT. 

The fire must come from heaven if it lead any i 
heaven. It must be the cone the holy 

flame. Then only can the Church prove h<-r~cli* an 
instrument of power. Then only can she warn, 
chilled and frozen hearts of those around her, and had 
them to the fountain of blessing. Then only can 
she breast the billows, face the storm, conquer all 
her enemies, and guide earth's wandering 01 
port of everlasting blessed] 

Spurgcon says : " Love to Christ smooth - 
of duty and wings the feet to travel in it. It is 
the bow which impels the arrow of obedience. It is 
the mainspring moving the wheels of duty. It is the 
strong arm tugging at the oar of diligence. It is the 
marrow-hones of fidelity, the blood in the veil 
piety, the sinew of spiritual strength, yea, the li 
sincere devotion. He that hath love can no more l>e 
motionless than an aspen leaf in the gale, the - 
leaf in the hurricane, or the spray in the tempest. 
As well may hearts cease to beat as to love to labor. 
Love is instinct with activity. It can not be idle. 
It is full of energy. It can not content itself with 
littles. It is the well-spring of heroism, and great 
deeds arc the gushing of its fountain. It is a giant 
that heapcth mountains upon mountains, and thinks 
the pile but little: it is a mighty mystery, I 
changeth bitter into sweet, it calls death life and life 
death, and it makes pain less painful than enjoyment." 

The author of " Ecce Homo" says that I < 
its essence, wherever found, is a law making p 



LOVE. 27 

The declaration that God is love, is but a formula of 
the great universe of law. If the divine wisdom has 
devised the letter and method of law, love is its ani- 
mating and executive force. Every thing indicates 
that God loves his own work. The stars seem to tell 
us by the harmonies that bind them, that he loves 
them. He pronounced the world good, and he loves 
all goodness. Love, as well as Wisdom, stood by when 
the eternal Father set his compass upon the face of 
the depth, and appointed the foundations of the earth. 
Love said, " Fill up the rocky shelves of mountains 
with gold and silver, drop the treasures of iron and coal 
into the depths below, for there shall be generations by 
and by to need them." Love tempered the waters 
for the millions that sport in them. Love wrapped 
the birds in beautiful plumage, and laid thick, soft 
garments on the beasts of the forest and field. 

In all the great forces of nature there is the im- 
press of love. A globe of fire hangs above us, but 
mist and cloud and air so modifies its power that we 
live and rejoice in the sunshine. Love makes a law 
for the waves in their madness, and they creep back 
to their native depth harmless and subdued. Electric 
fires play around the world, but, curbed and held, 
they minister to the beauty and order of nature. 

We see this beautiful law in the tribes of nature. 
The enraged lioness stands at bay in defense of her 
whelps. Travelers tell us of the frenzy of the bear as 
she fights for her cubs. The hen gathers her brood 
under her wincrs when danger threatens. 



28 THE FRUIT OP THE SPIRIT. 

ciety lovo is a law-making power. What men 
love, be it good or evil, controls the whi and 

conduct of their lives. The love of wealth, in * 
men, writes out the statutes of the inner life by which 
they are controlled. The will I 
sordid affection. The body take- on heavy burd 
The brain assumes heavy car 3. The heart is denied 
its holiest rights and its Bweeti si joya Love | 
is a terrible law-maker. It is the autocrat of the 
gaming table. It dwells in the courts of the liquor 
traffic, and writes in blood its mandat 
Senators bow down to it. Judges take bribes and 
sell the rights of freemen. The love of strong drink— 
what laws it enacts! The love of sin makes a way for 
sin. Sin is perverted love. Men love darkness rather 
than light. Jesus knew the philosophy of evil. It is 
not an accident. The love of evil is the solution of 
the awful history of crime. 

Avarice writes its laws. Lust legislates it- blight- 
ing curse over the lands. Ambition is a law unto 
itself, and power is its goal 

To break the love of sin Christ came. L 
brought him hither. He would not conquer the world 
by power. Jesus' love is to subdue the world and 
make its laws. The CTOSB, not the sword, has become 
the symbol of universal conquest The spirit of - : 
became the law of his disciples. They went forth 
doing his works. So the Gospel was planted. B 
fruits have multiplied. 

The love of Jesus has in it alone the world's 



LOVE. 29 

rees. The Church will advance just according to her 
love of holiness and the fullness of Christ. A Church 
full of love is a Church full of power. Reform, edu- 
cation, missionary work, church building and philan- 
thropy, will all go forward as love alone shall impel 
the chariot wheels of Christian progress. 

So, if love be really in our hearts, its jurisdiction 
will extend over our outward lives and domestic and 
social habits. This life of love is a beautiful thing. 
It is a privilege, a duty. It is Christ's gift. To such as 
receive him gives he power to become the sons of God. 
This portion is for us; let us claim our birthright. 

There are many persons who constantly trouble 
themselves about their motives and actions and about 
their mental states and feelings. They forget that if 
they take care of their love to God every thing else 
will take care of itself. There are other affections 
and feelings essential to the soul, but they neces- 
sarily exist and act where there is a heart full of 
this heavenly fruit of love. As in the watch, there 
is a spring which, if you coil it up, will of itself keep 
the wheels in motion, so there is in the human soul 
a spring which, if you keep it in its true relation, 
will itself carry forward every thing related to per- 
sonal, family, and public duty. How important that 
we keep this fire burning! 

is SPIRITUAL. 

This love is spiritual in its nature. It comes from 
God and it leads us back to God. All love comes 



30 THE FRUIT OP 'J HE BPIBIT. 

from him as light cornea from the sun or wal 

the ocean. All kinds and d 

him. The love of compassion thai - 

the love of esteem that delights the affections, 

of benevolence that engrosses the i _ love 

of home that hallows the paternal and the filial, the 

love of piety that transports the affections of the soul 

into raptures, the love of the child, of the parent, 
the citizen, the patriot, the philanthropist, or the 
saint, — all are rays from the heart of the universal 

Father, who is love. The Christian living in love 
lives in God and God lives in him. "Such an one 
has Christ in his heart, heaven in his eye, the w< 
under his feet. He has the Word of God as his 
oracle, the Spirit of God as his guide, the childn 
God as his companions. To him wealth has no value, 
only so as to please God in its use; pi - is no 

attraction, honor no brilliancy, the world no charms. 
He gives evidence that he was born in the city of 
regeneration, educated in the school of obedience, 
lives in the valley of perseverance, works at the trade 
of diligence, and has large estates in the distri 
Christian contentment. He often walks in the vallej 
of self-abasement, and sometimes climbs the mountain 
of spiritnal-mindedness, breakfasts every mornh i 
the Word and prayer, and sups every evening on the 
fountains of grace. He has meat to tat which the 
world knows not of, and his drink is the sincere milk 
of the Word." 

This love is as marrow and fatness to the 



LOVE. 31 

It is the milk and wine of the new covenant. The 
joy and rejoicing of the believer's bouI. As a fruit of 

the Spirit, it comes to us from God and is the result 
of "his love shed abroad in our heart." 

Frequently, at the Roman games, the emperors, 
in order to gratify the citizens and guests of Rome, 
caused sweet perfumes, full of odors, to be rained 
down upon the people through the awning which 
covered the amphitheater. They brought magnificent 
vases and huge jars of perfume and laid them all 
around ; but those sealed vases and jars gave forth no 
aroma. The vessels must be opened, the perfume 
must be scattered all around. When the drops began 
to fall like rain, then every one was refreshed and 
gratified, and with one voice the whole multitude sent 
up the shout, "Long live the emperor." Such sweet- 
ness and blessedness there is in the love of God ; in it 
there is a richness, a freshness, a fullness, and fruit- 
fulness that is not found in any thing else; but the 
fullness and sweetness is not perceived until the Spirit 
of God pours it out like the rain of fragrance upon 
the heads and hearts of all the children of God. 
Under the rich aroma of the divine outpouring the 
hill of Zion yields a thousand sacred sweets. Then 
the Church of God becomes like a well-watered garden. 
Then "her branches shall spread, and her beauty 
shall be as the olive tree and her smell as Lebanon." 
"They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they 
shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine, the 
scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon." 



32 THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT. 

Luther BayB, "Love is an affection of the mind, 
whereby we desire to enjoy perpetual union with the 
thing loved." 

I. H. Evans Bays, "Love is the master-key that 
opens every ward of the heart of man." 

''It is the sun of life which is most beautiful in 
the morning and evening, but warmest and steadiest 
at noon." 

"Love is to the heart what Bummer is to the 
year — it brings to maturity the choicest fruit" 

"Love in the heart is the great commanding 
mandment that commands all other faculties what- 
soever." "It is the first wheel that turns the BOul 
about." "The law of love in the Church of God is 
like the law of attraction in the material world; 
without it all the several parts would bt in a Btate 
of repulsion to each other, and only disorganization 
and desolation could result." 

"Love, like fire, can not subsist without continual 
movement; as soon as it ceases to hope and tear it 
ceases to exist." 

"Heaven's harmony is universal love." 

"Xove can hope where reason would despair." 

"No cord or cable can draw so forcibly or bind so 
fast as love can do with only a single thread." 

"Cunning conquers force; force can subdue num- 
bers; intellect can master courage; but love sub- 
dues all." 

"Every day should be distinguished by at least 
one particular act of 



love. 



LOVE. 33 

Christianity is a system of love — of love in its 
purest, brightest, and diviuest forms. It is an emana- 
tion from the mind and heart of infinite and eternal 
benevolence. Its doctrines are the truths of love ; its 
principles are the rules of love; its invitations are the 
offers of love ; its promises are the assurances of love ; 
its very threatenings are the severities of love; and 
its one great design is to repel selfishness from the 
human bosom and to plant in its room a principle of 
holy and universal philanthropy. A man may be so 
intimately acquainted with all the evidences of this 
divine system as to be enabled by the most powerful 
and subtle logic to defend its outworks against all the 
attacks of infidelity ; he may understand and be able 
to arrange all its doctrines as articles of faith in the 
most symmetrical order; he may be able to harmonize 
seeming discrepancies and contradictions; but still, if 
he know not that the essence of Christianity is love, 
he has no sympathy within his inner soul, he has 
mistaken its genius and its spirit, and is as blind to 
its richest glories as the man whose darkened eye-balls 
never look on the glories of the sky or the beauties 
of the earth. "Though I speak with the tongues of 
men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become 
as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal." 

The love of our neighbor is also included in this 
law of love. It is a necessary fruit of that Spirit 
which implants in the heart the love of God. The 
love of God is the fountain from which flows the love 
of our neighbor. It is the principle, pattern, and end 
3 



34 THE FRUIT OP THE SPIRIT. 

Of this love. "Thou -halt love thy neighbor as thy- 
self." Love to our neighbor is essential to nil true 
obedience, as it is to all true philanthropy. The law 
can not be met without it. Obedience and love al- 
ways go hand in hand. Obedience i< love in pi* I 
and love is obedience in principle. But who is my 

neighbor ? 

"Thy neighbor?— It is lie 

Whom lliou hast power lo bl 
Whose aching head, or burning brow 
Thy soothing hand may press." 

At the time of our Lord the Jews had restricted 
the word "neighbor" to mean those of their own 
nation, all others being regarded as enemies. On one 
occasion there came a lawyer to Jesus, proposing cer- 
tain questions. He was not a candid honest enquirer. 
He came only to tempt Jesus, to hear what he would 
say, and how he would say it. Our Lord ansv 
his questions by asking another. It was most becom- 
ing to have a learned lawyer expound the law books. 
In answer to the question from Jesus, "How readesl 
thou?" the lawyer gave a compendium of the moral 
law, Lev. xix and Deut. vi. "True," said J< 
"the full and absolute observance of these command- 
ments must secure everlasting life." This Jesus knew 
no man could attain unto but by faith in the atone- 
ment and the aid of the Holy Spirit, but he said no 
more. He gave the lawyer the full benefit of the 
difficulty he had himself created. The lawyer Baw 



LOVE. 35 

the answer was insufficient, and to gratify his self- 
conceit, to win a laurel for his school, and if possible 
to entangle Jesus, he asked, "Who is my neighbor?" 
Whom ought I to regard as such? To the command 
"Love thy neighbor" they had added, "and hate 
thine enemy" — all who are not Jews. This incident 
gave our Savior an opportunity to inculcate that uni- 
versal benevolence which is the glory of the Christian 
religion, and he did it in the most effectual way. A 
traveling Jew, who had fallen among thieves, and 
was left in a helpless condition, was found by two of 
his fellow countrymen and co-religionists. They, with 
cold indifference, passed him by as if afraid to touch 
him. After a while a benevolent Samaritan, a man 
of another faith and another nation, saw him, with 
gaping wounds and aching head, and by personal sac- 
rifice aided him and saved him. It was so inimitably 
put that it was easy to see that this stranger was the 
only one of the three who had acted the part of a 
neighbor to the unfortunate wayfarer, and the lawyer 
could find no other verdict. For his priest and Levite 
he had not a word to say. It was most galling to 
his pride and most ruinous to his cause, his party, 
and his creed, to find a verdict in favor of the Samar- 
itan, but he could not do otherwise. The inference 
was clear. If we would be obedient and keep the 
second commandment, we must act to any one who 
needs our help, of whatever country or Church, as 
did the Samaritan to the Jew. The voice of the 



36 THE FBI it OF THE SPIRIT. 

Spirit, which ie love, will always aay, 'Go and do 
likewise;" and bo sang the poet: 

11 Who is my neighbor do I a»k? 

The answer in ill every task 

Of love, that, on ihe common way 

Of life, lies round us day l>y day. 
"Wherever fellow-man can plead 
The brotherhood of grief or m 
The Christian's heart admits the call- 
He i.s the neighbor of iw all. 
He need not prove the tie of race, 
Of creed, of pariah, or of place; 
He is a man, lie is in grief, 
And we can give and owe relief. 
Though poor in gold and silver, still, 
If rich in love and kindly will, 
AVe do our best the tenderest way, 
Then we do all that mortals may, 
To change our course, give up our ease, 
Our pleasure lose, that we may please; 
That we may soothe another's woe 
To make our poverty overflow ; — 
Not when we feel in fervent mood, 
The luxury of doing good, 
But when, excitement's impulse gone, 
AVe still for conscience' sake go on. 
This is my neighbor— love of heaven, ( 
The love which God to man hath given; 
The love which man to man must give, 
If he with God in heaven would live. 
God's neighbor was the creature he 
Found in the most extremity : 
Man's heart must feel God's wondrous plan, 
If man would neighbor be to man.'' 



LOVE. 37 

Love to man — the broad, ordinary, commonplace 
philanthropy of every day, the philanthropy that 
wings the feet of the good Samaritan, and that sends 
the alms-givers forth upon their errands of mercy — 
love to man was not known in its fullness till the 
•el came. "Thou shalt love thy neighbor" was 
the command of old, but the Jews first contracted 
the neighborhood, and then they contracted the af- 
fection. The Jew's neighbor was not a Samaritan ; 
only those of his own exclusive pale and sphere could 
claim his sympathy. But when love to God came 
like a queenly mother leading out her daughter by 
the hand, then men wondered at the rare and radiant 
beauty that had escaped their notice so long. It was 
not until men were led first to love God supremely 
that the streams of love to man flowed in ceaseless 
and in general profusion. 

There are two kinds of love in the divine mind — 
the love of complacency which God bears to all the 
pure and holy in his great family, and the love of 
benevolence which he bears to the whole creation, ir- 
respective of moral character. Analogous to this 
there is in the mind of every good man a twofold 
love — the love of complacency which he always bears 
towards God and all goodness, and the love of benev- 
lence which he must bear to all that can call him 
neighbor. The apostle distinguishes these two, where 
he says, " add to brotherly kindness, charity." There 
is a world-wide field for neighborly sympathy and 
action bevond the circle of home and Church, where 



38 THE FRUIT OF THE .-PHUT. 

brotherly kindness lives and moves and has its b 
" Herein' we do know that we know him, it* we - 
his commandments." "By thifl shall all men I 
that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to 
another." 

This love for our neighbor is an outward manifes- 
tation of an inward principle. It is an inferential 
evidence of the regenerating power of the spirit in 
the heart. The Holy Spirit first brings the wif 
of the new life ; and with this additional testimonj a 
man may as certainly conclude that he is a child of 
God as if a seraph were dispatched from the royal 
throne to tell him that he had seen his name written 
in the Lamb's Book of Life. This is the grand nov- 
elty of the Christian dispensation, like to which even 
Judaism supplied nothing, either as its model, its mean- 
ing, or its motives. It is the great law of the Christian 
dispensation. "This is my commandment," said 
Jesus — mine, emphatically — " that ye love one an- 
other." It was, and it is, a badge of discipleship. 
"By this shall all men know that ye are my d 
pies." Philosophers and public teachers gave to their 
disciples some peculiar sentiment, or mark, or m 
Jesus says, My badge, or sign, or token is "I. 
By this shall all men know that ye are nunc, if ye 
have love. Let that man be accounted an imp - 
a pretender, a hypocrite, who has not my mark upon 
him, and is not distinguished by love to the brethren. 
Such is the importance of love. How excellent! 
love without any selfish alloy : 1 w neither dark 



LOVE. 39 

by hatred nor shaded by caprice. Love is an attri- 
bute which belongs to God, and in it is summed up 
all the others. 

God is love. This fair spirit sits enthroned in the 
heavens, where she lives as a sovereign principle, an 
element divine. Her music is the song of the angelic 
heart, the sigh of the sympathetic spirit, the prayer 
of the humble and the contrite, the gratitude ex- 
pressed to the Author of every mercy, and the word 
of kindness dropped from the life of charity. Love 
prevailed over the creation of the world, made man 
almost an angel, and gave him as his residence a par- 
adise, almost a heaven. Love preserves the harmony 
of the upper sphere, and marks out the progress of 
the soul through troubles here and immortality here- 
after. Her form was seen and her voice was heard 
on earth when the Son of God became incarnate, and 
he bequeathed to his Church, as an inestimable legacy, 
the power of love, as the essence of religion. 

"The tender plant of Christian love can only 
grow in the garden of Gospel principle. In every 
instance in which w T e have been wanting in love to 
our brother we have been wanting in love to Christ." 
If thou neglectest thy love to thy neighbor, in vain 
thou professest thy love to God ; for by thy love to 
God thy love to thy neighbor is begotten ; and by thy 
love to thy neighbor thy love to God is nourished and 
manifested. Our love to our brethren is not only the 
evidence, but even the measure, of our love to Christ. 
11 He that loveth not his brother, whom he hath seen, 



40 THE FRUIT OP Tin; SPIRIT. 

how ran he love God, whom ho hath not Been?" Ete 
that hath not Love enough in him to love ■ man like 

himself, how can he love God, who La bo unlike man? 

This is a true rule. He that loveth not the mem 
of Christ's mystical body can not love him. He who 
grows in love to his brethren grows also in hi- bl 
Christ. The measure of our progress in broth 
love is proportionate to our growth in the 1<»\. 
Christ, and our love to Christ is as accurately m 
ured by it as the progress of the sun in tin 
is measured by the sun-dial. True brotherly l>. 
from the heart, sincere and unconstrained. The I 
of bounty flows from it as a fountain, and goes 
out, as from a narrow-mouthed bottle, with grumbling. 
Jesus said, " A new commandment I give unto 
you, that ye love one another : as I have loved 
that ye also love one another." Let as not mistake 
his meaning. He asks not that our love should be 
equal to his, but that it should resemble his; not that 
it should be of the same strength, but of the a 
kind. A pearl of dew will not hold the sun, but it 
may hold one ray of its light. We may catch 
reflect a ray of his divine love. A true Christian is 
like a rose-bud. "When a rose-bud is formed, if the 
soil be good and the sky and the atmosphere genial, 
it will not be long until the bud bursts into a full- 
blown rose ; the life within it is BO abundant that it 
can no longer contain it all; but in blossomed beauty 
and swimming fragrance it must needs send forth its 
sweet aroma and perfume, and gladden all tin- air. 



LOVE. 41 

So love is like the rose, with its petals fully spread, 
developing itself, and making the Church and the 
world happier for its being here. The religion which 
fancies that it loves God, when it never evinces its 
love to its neighbor, is not piety : it is only a poor, 
mildewed theology — a dogma, with a worm in its 
heart. Prevent, by any means in your power, that 
rose-bud from blooming, and it will rot at the heart. 
It. must fling its sweetness on the air, and if prevented 
it dies. Your love can not live unless it- be allowed 
an opportunity of doing good. It can not stay at 
home. A man can not keep it to himself. Like 
light, love is constantly traveling ; it must be expend- 
ing itself for the good of others. In ancient Rome 
there was a temple dedicated to the heathen goddess 
Vesta. At its altar virgins ministered as female 
priests. Their duty was to keep the sacred fire ever 
burning. If it went out through their neglect, they 
were severely punished. How carefully they watched 
it by day and by night ! Imitate, O Christian, their 
example! Keep the fire of divine love burning on 
the altar of your heart. Suffer it not to go out, or to 
grow dim ; let it never end in darkness. 

Love is persevering. Euclid, a disciple of Soc- 
rates, having offended his brother, the brother cried 
out, "Let me die if I am not revenged on you one 
time or another!" To whom Euclid replied, "And 
let me die if I do not soften you by kindness, and 
make you love me as before." 

"And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these 



42 THE FRUIT OF TIIK SPIRIT. 

three; but the greatest of charity;" thu 

love. Love is the seraph, and faith and hope are but 
the wings by which it flies. Other graces shine like 
precious stones, each in its own hue; this, lik. 
costly diamond, blends all the colors in one beautiful 
white, thus uniting and adorning the whole. By 
faith we partake of grace and please God ; by hope 
we endure, as seeing Him who is invisible ; but love 
makes us like God, " for God is love." Faith and 
hope relate to self and time, love to others and to 
futurity. Faith lays the foundation, hope raises the 
superstructure, but love completes the building. Faith 
connects me to God, hope enables me to war a good 
warfare, but love crowns me with victory. Faith 
helps, hope sustains, love makes me perfect T 
love that moved the Savior to come all the way from 
heaven to earth to save men. It moved the heart of 
God, and now moves the hearts of men. 1: gl 
in divine purity and splendor in the hearts of the 
apostles and early Christians, as they, with tangoes 
of fire, sounded out the glad notes of salvation. 

"Faith, Hope, and Love were questioned what they thought 
Of future glory, which religion taught. 
Now, Faith believed it firmly to be true, 
And Hope expected so to find it, too. 
Love aiwwered, smiling with a conscious glow, 
Believe! expect! I know it to be so." 

• Tupper says, "Love is the weapon which Omnip- 
otence reserved to conquer rebel man when all other 
weapons failed. Reason he parries; fear he answers 



LOVE. 43 

blow to blow ; future interests he meets with present 
pleasures, but love, that sun against whose melting 
beams winter can not stand, that soft subduing slum- 
ber which wrestles down the giant — there is not one 
human being in a million whose clay heart is hard- 
ened against Love." 

The apostle has given us a fine photograph of love 
in thought, in feeling, in action, love in experience 
and in every-day life, love as one of the fruits of the 
Spirit as it comes in contact with the trials and buf- 
fetings of life. Love is by him personified, and w r e are 
assured what it can do, and what it can leave undone 
for Christ. The attributes and qualities of this fruit 
are recorded that all may see how it adorns and beau- 
tifies the Christian character. As fruit usually hangs 
in clusters, so the apostle gives us sixteen attributes of 
love, eight positive and eight negative ; with the assur- 
ance that all the eloquence of all languages, and all 
the sweet speech of angels, combined with the gifts of 
prophecy, the understanding of mysteries, and the 
possession of all knowledge, added to a miraculous 
faith, unbounded beneficence, self sacrificing even unto 
death, without love, would be only an empty sound of 
a piece of brass. "Without question there are many 
valuable, agreeable, and useful gifts connected with 
classic tongues, eloquent preaching, learned teaching, 
divine prophecies, profound mysteries, varied knowl- 
edge, and miraculous faith, and gifts of healing; but 
all these, if not consecrated to God and sanctified by 
love, are of no avail. 



44 the fbuit of the bpikit. 

We may here, in brief, examine what Paul 
of this love in action, and in endurai 

"Love suffereth long 9 from the unkmdnen and ill- 
treatment of others; ean bear injur: 
a long time without resentment. It U 
t i anger or retaliation, will put up with many Bll£ 
and neglects from those we love, and will wait I 
hope a long time for a reformation. 

"L kind" to all in words and deeds, in spirit and 
temper. The law of kindness and love is upon 
lips, and the fruits of kindness drops from the hand. 
It is benign, bountiful, courteous, and obliging 
to be useful, and not only seizes on opportunities of 
doing good, but searches for them. 

"Love envieth not" the honor, power, talent, pre- 
ferment, profit, applause, or prosperity of others. If 
Ave love our neighbor, his welfare, happiness, and pros- 
perity will be an addition to our own happiness, in- 
stead of impairing it. Envy is the fruit of ill-will, 
and it is so common among men I must dwell 
it a little. "Envy is a stone that, if thrown, fiiee 
back upon the thrower." The poets imagined 
envy dwelt in a dark cave, being pale and lean, pov- 
erty-stricken, looking a-squint, abounding with gall, her 
teeth black, full of venom, never rejoicing but in the 
misfortune of others, ever unquiet and uneasy, and 
continually tormenting herself. 

"O Envy, hide tliy bosom, bide ii deep; 
A thousand snakes, villi hlaok envenomed mouth, 
Nest there, ami hiss and feed through all ihy Ik 



LOVE. 46 

" Envy i> a kind of misery that Bome persons 
at the prosperity and success of other-. 

•'Rising glory occasions the greatest envy, 
kindling fires makes the greatest smoke." E:r _ 
the reverse of charity; and as love is the supreme 
source of pleasure, so this (envy) is of pain. Envy 
has under its banner hatred, calumny, treachery, with 
the meagerness of famine, the venom of pestilence, 
and the rage of war. Fuller's prayer against envy is 
very beautiful: (i Dispossess me, O Lord, of this bad 
spirit, and turn my envy into holy emulation ; let me 
labor to exceed those in painstaking who excel me in 
parts ; let me feed and foster and nourish and cherish 
graces in others ; honoring their persons, praising their 
parts, and glorifying thy name who hath given such 
gifts unto men.'' 

"Love vaunteth not itself;" does not behave itself in- 
solently, with haughtiness and ostentation; is not 
rude in putting itself forward, or boasts of its per- 
sonal superiority, or of what it has done, or can do. 
"Where love nourishes, true modesty will be seen 
and felt. 

11 Is not puffed up" with self-conceit, or bloated 
with pride and vainglory. It is not self-applauding, 
and seeks the applause of others ; it is not inflated 
with a sense of its own importance. 

" Doth not behave itself unseemly" or indecorously; 
does nothing that is mean, vile, or unbecoming; 
keeps its place like a soldier in the ranks. Dr. A. 
Clarke says: "Love never acts out of its place, or 



4<) THE FRUIT OF THE BPIBIT. 

character; obc e decwram and g 1 manners." 

The original word is used by classic writ pre- 

sent the failure of an actor to rapport hifl part, and 
refers to unbecoming freedom in dr. 
Corinthians were guilty. 

"Sedceth not her own" praise, or fame, or profit, or 
pleasure only, to the exclusion or injury of oti 
He forfeits the Christian name who is Bolicitoufl only 
for his own ease and happiness, and cai 
interests of others. 

"Is not easily provoked" to think or speak rashly or 
unduly +o others ; it is not passionate. 

"Tliinkethno evil" of another groundless y : d 
not in its thoughts charge guilt on others by infer- 
ence or innuendo; does not invent or devise, or think 
out any evil; is uot suspicious of evil in the inten- 
tions or motives of others; is not found imputing a 
bad motive as long as a good one can be found or 

supposed. 

"Bejoiceth not in iniquity" or injustice, 
personal or party ends, however profitable it may 
to be. The commission of wrong doing may for (he 
time succeed, and men may say, " The end 
the means," but love can not rejoice in a wrong course. 
"Eejoiceth in the truth," in the love of it, and the 
practice of it, and in the possession of it. The word 
truth here means virtue, in opposition to iniquity. 
Love rejoices in all virtue ; truth and virtue are twin 
sisters, and participate in a common nature. 
"Beareth all thing**— rather concealeth, or 



LOVE. 47 

ereth all things, to hide the faults it sees. Blessed is 
the man whose sin is covered. Love can hide a 
multitude of sins. It draws the veil of churity over 
many of the faults and imperfections of others. 

" Belie vdh all things" that are worthy of credence 
to the advantage of another. It is "willing to believe 
the best of a neighbor, interpreting every thing in 
the best sense, and putting the fairest construction on 
every man's case. 

"Hopeth all things." AVhen there is no good ground 
for faith, it still continues to hope the very best of 
another's intentions and actions. As the rainbow of 
promise is seen out upon the dark cloud of storm, so 
hope continues in the hour of darkness and sorrow 
to look for better and brighter days. Diogenes said, 
"Hope is the last thing that dies in man." 

"Endureth all things" that may be necessary in 
view of our intercourse with erring mortals, bearing up 
under the trials and afflictions of life. It makes any 
sacrifice for the honor of God and the good of others. 

The praises of love here given form a complete 
circle of graces, in which the first and the last corre- 
spond with each other and are linked together. They 
make a beautiful cluster of ripe, rich fruit to adorn 
the Christian character. 

"Devotion wafts the mind above, 
But heaven itself descends in love; 
A feeling from the Godhead caught, 
To wean from self each gracious thought; 
A ray of him who formed the whole; 
A glory circling round the soul." 



48 THE PBUTI OF THE SPIRIT. 

Thia love is constant and uniform; not like I 
dashing, noisy torrent, foaming and thundering down 
the mountain's .si.lt-, Boon to evaporate and disappear, 

leaving ltd channel dry and dusty, but, like the Bflvery 
Btream fed from a living fountain, finding ita uoia 

way through woodland and meadow, always full, 
always pure, and always refreshing, carrying lift and 
fertility wherever it goes. It is not the light of the 
hky-rocket, which dazzles for a moment and goes 
ing and crackling, attracting the eye of the beholder 
as it shoots its fiery way to utter extinction, having 
its path dark as it was before, and much more dusty 
and ill-savored. It is the light of the well-trimim-d 
lamp in the dome of the light-house— clear, steady, 
enduring, shining out the livelong night in the fog or 
the storm to cheer and guide the tempest-tossed mar- 
iner as he seeks the harbor of rest and safety. It «aa 
for a long time a question in mechanics how t<> con- 
struct a pendulum so that it would make the same 
number of vibrations in January as in July in Green- 
land and in Florida. It was found that the difference 
of outward circumstances, of temperature, of storm, 
etc., had much to do with the expansion and contrac- 
tion of the metals of which that pendulum was com- 
posed; and, of course, with the accuracy of our time 
regulators. How to overcome those irregularitu - 
secure true time "Winter and Summer was the difficult 
question. Thanks to science, those difficulties have 
been overcome by means of the compensation-balance, 
which is so constructed that the unequal expansion of 



LOVE. 49 

two different metals may constantly counteract each 
other's effect, and equalize its momentum under all 
changes of temperature and climate. Now, in morals 
and in religion, we very much need a compensation 
rod or balance-power to enable us to walk and work 
with steady, constant step in the way of duty, unin- 
fluenced by the suushine of prosperity or the hailstorm 
of adversity, so that we may bring forth fruit in all 
seasons and under all circumstances, with that stead- 
iness of purpose, and that unquenchable zeal which 
will be well-pleasing to God. We have, thank God, 
just such a balance-power; this heavenly chronometer 
is, "the love of God shed abroad in the heart;" "the 
perfect love of God casteth out all fear" and all cold- 
ness and all unbelief and indolence and indifference, 
and puts and keeps the whole man in motion to God 
and for God. How sweet the constraining love of 
Jesus; like a furnace-blast, melting the "I must," into 
the "I will," and dissolving the whole man into "I 
delight to do thy will, O my God." 

Secure this love, dear reader; like the honey-bee 
it transmutes the bitterest fruits into honey, and, like 
the iEolian harp, it turns the wildest winds into music. 

WE KNOW IT. 

This love is consciously enjoyed. When the Lord 
communicates his love to his believing children he 
gives them an evidence of it. He does not leave them 
in the dark in reference to our new relation. The 
Spirit himself beareth witness with our spirit that we 
4 



50 THE FRUIT OP THE BPIBIT. 

are the children of God." "Now, he that hath 
wrought ua for the selfsame thing who also 

hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit;" "and 

we know that we have passed from death onto life 
because we love the brethren." Here we are informed 
of the knowledge of the fact of our relationship to 

him, and the evidence and fruit of that fact. Wt 

know in whom we have believed. We are 

of that divine work. The power of love is happily 

illustrated by the following incident: "A kind, ( 
tian lady, in one of her visits of charity, found a ; 
destitute little orphan girl, and brought her to her 
own house. The little stranger at first would take no 
comfort, but sat down weeping in the hall. The 
children of the house endeavored to make friends with 
her and draw her into the parlor, but they could not; 
and so they said to their mother: 'She will not come 
and play with us. She will not leave the hall.' 

" 'There is a secret,' said the lady, 'by which you 
can bring her where you like. It is a secret in four 
letters. Try if you can find it out.' 

"The eldest sister taking the lead, searching eagerly 
among all her prettiest play-things. ' I know what 
it is,' cried she, 'it is " D-o-11." So she brought her 
best doll and offered to give it to the child if she 
would come into the parlor. No, it was a failure. 

"The next in age said to herself: 'Muff is spelled 
with four letters;' and brought her a fine muff — a 
Christmas present ; but she would not touch the muff, 
nor even look at it. 



I.OVE. 51 

"Grace, the youngest, could not think of any thing 
worth offering after this, but stood looking on in sor- 
row, until at length, following an instinct of her own, 
she sat down beside the little stranger and cried too. 
Then presently she took her by the hand, and encir- 
cling her neck with her own tiny arm, she drew the 
weeping one softly nearer and nearer, and imprinted 
a gentle kiss upon her cheek. This decided the battle. 
There was nothing said, but Grace soon led the way 
into the parlor, holding her captive by the hand. 

'"Well, girls,' said the mother, 'Grace has found 
out the secret, and the four letters are LOVE. Love 
is the strongest rope in the world; even God will fol- 
low when you draw with that.' 

"Ah! yes, love is a great power. It draws all 
things to itself. It drew the Son of God down to 
earth to die for us, and led him back to heaven to 
intercede for us, and is able to draw him down again 
any day and every day to dwell with us in our hearts. 
It will draw down blessings on our labors; it will 
draw down answers to all our prayers." 

Love gives us power with God and with man. It 
is said that there is a point in the upper atmosphere 
where all the discordant sounds of earth, the rattle 
of the wheels, the chime of the bells, the roll of the 
drum, the scream of the steam whistle, the booming 
of the cannon, the moan of the beggar, and the ring- 
ing laugh of the school-boy, all meet and blend in 
perfect harmony. This may be only the fancy of 
some poet, or it may be the result of science, I can 



52 THE FRUIT OP tin; SPIRIT. 

not say. I would not dispute the saying, but thi* I 

do know, that there is a }x>int in Christian cxpcr: 
in which, when once we are lifted up to a holy fel- 
lowship in Christ Jesus, we meet in a high and ! 

enly place, where all things are gathered together in 
one, both which are in heaven and which ar< 
earth, even in him, an elevation so high and BO pure 
that there is a complete oblivion of all those manifold 
distinctions of country, race, and name which l>elong 
entirely to a lower and heavier atmosphere. We I 
to be raised up into the higher plane of Christian 
experience, made to sit together in heavenly places, or 
in the heavenlies, in Christ Jesus until we become one 
in Christ and one with each other, one in the stn i 
bonds of a holy love; a flame of love so pure that 
many waters can not quench it. 

The question is often asked, In what sense, and to 
what extent, are we to love those who hate 08, and 
who do us wrong? Any one can see that if they re- 
pent of the wrong done, our love and forgiveness be- 
comes an easy and a pleasant duty. But if there 
be no evidence of repentance, and the wrong-doer per- 
sists in traducing our character or name, and injuring 
our influence or our family or property, still we arc 
to love them. Jesus said, "Love your enemies; 
bless them that curse you, and pray for them that 
despitefully use you and persecute you." We an- not 
called to love them as we love our families or OUT 
friends. We can not love their conduct or their 
deeds or spirit. We may not love them in the 9 



LOVE. 53 

of approval, or in the sense of affinity of nature and 
qualities. We may and we ought to love them with 
a love of compassion, a love of pity and of sympathy, 
and a love of benevolence, such as would prompt us 
to do them good if it were in our power, and to de- 
sire for them better hearts and minds. We may hate 
the sin with all our heartland still the sinner love. 
In closing my remarks on this, the first fruit named, 
I will reproduce here a few lines which I copied many 
years ago in my hymn-book, and have retained in my 
memory, and, I hope, in my heart : 

"True faith produces love lo God and man; 
Say, Echo, is not I his the Gospel plan? 
— The Gospel plan. 

Must I my faith and love to Jesus show, 
By doing good to all, both friend and foe? 
— Both friend and foe. 

But if a brother hates and treats me ill, 
Must I return him good, and love him still? 
— Love him still. 

If he my failings watches to reveal, 
Must I his faults as carefully conceal? 
— As carefully conceal. 

But if my name and character he blast, 
And cruel malice, too, a long time last; 
And if I sorrow and affliction know, 
He loves to add unto my cup of woe; 
In this uncommon, this peculiar case, 
Sweet Echo, say, must I still love and bless? 
— Still love and bless. 



54 THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT. 

Whatever usage ill I may receive, 
Must I be patient still, and still forgive? 

— Be patient still, and still forgive. 

Why, Echo, how is this? thou 'rt sure a dove! 
Thy voice shall teach me nothing else but love. 
— Nothing else but love. 

Amen ! with all my heart, then, be it so : 
'Tis all delightful, just, and good, I know; 
And now to practice I'll directly go. 
— Directly go. 

Things being so, whoever me reject, 
My gracious God me surely will protect. 
— Surely will protect. 

Henceforth I'll roll on him my every care, 
And then both friend and foe embrace in prayer. 
— Embrace in prayer. 

But after all the duties I have done, 
Must I, in point of merit, them disown ? 
And trust for heaven through Jesus' blood alone? 
— Through Jesus' blood alone. 

Echo, enough ! thy counsels to mine ear 
Are sweeter than to flowers the dew-drop tear; 
Thy wise, instructive lessons please me well : 
I'll go and practice them. Farewell, farewell. 

— Practice them. Farewell, farewell." 



joy. 55 



II. Joy. 

"Since earthly joy abideth never, 
Work for the joy that lasts forever; 
For other joy is all but vain : 
All earthly joy returns again." 

JOY is an agreeable and sweet affection of the 
soul, arising from some present or hoped-for good. 
Keligious joy is the delight and satisfaction of the 
soul in its union with God in Christ, as the greatest 
and highest good, with an actual rejoicing in what is 
for his honor and glory. The word "joy" is a com- 
plex term, and is often used to signify that glorious 
reward which God bestows upon those who love him. 
"Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." Here the 
word "joy" stands for all the blessedness to be expe- 
rienced with Christ at his coming. The word is often 
used as synonymous with gladness, pleasure, delight, 
mirth, emulation, though there are different shades 
of meaning to each. 

The joy which is the fruit of the Spirit is a deep, 
inward, heart-felt emotion or feeling of the mind, aud 
is in its nature and origin closely connected with love 
and peace, and is in part dependent upon them. In- 
deed, the first three of those divine fruits are one in 
three and three in one — a trinity in unity — a beautiful 



56 THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT. 

trio in the human heart, that are never separated. 
To experience the love of God shed abroad in the 
heart is to insure joy. The Holy Spirit that wit- 
s to our justification commences the work of re- 
newal, and communicates joy to the believing soul. 
Peace and joy in the Holy Ghost are a part of the 
kingdom of God iu us. God fills his children with 
all joy and peace in believing. " Believing, ye re- 
joice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." 

I know that there are many persons of morbid 
nature, influenced by a sickly sentimentalism, who 
love to live in the twilight of a gloomy melancholy, 
who have no joy or real comfort in religion. They 
have little sunshine in their experience. If we would 
judge of the provision God has made for his dear 
children by the experience and life of many of his 
professed children, we must conclude that our heav- 
enly Father set a very poor table for his household. 
They journey on through their weary pilgrimage mur- 
muring and repining as they go. Their harps are 
upon the willow all unstrung. Their joy is turned 
into heaviness, "their fine gold has become dim," 
their wine is mixed with water. Their beautiful gar- 
ments of purity and holiness have become spotted 
by the flesh, and even the precious Gospel has, to 
them, ceased to be the glad tidings of great joy. God 
never designed his children to go through this world 
as orphans. Jesus said to his disciples, " These words 
have I spoken unto you that my joy might remain in 
you, and that your joy might be full;" that "ye may 



joy. 57 

be glad with exceeding joy;" that "with joy shall 
ye draw water out of the wells of salvation;" "that 
our joy may be full." " The kiugdom of God is joy in 
the Holy Ghost." 

The joy which is the fruit of the Spirit is not the 
object sought for by the child of God. No man should 
set out to seek for joy as a definite object of pursuit. 
It comes not at our bidding, nor when we most desire 
its exhilarating influence. No man becomes a true 
Christian merely that he may participate in this frame 
of mind, or in that other ecstasy of feeling. That 
motive would be far too selfish to secure the divine 
blessing. The true object of Christian pursuit in seek- 
ing the divine life, is to glorify God, and to do good 
to our fellow men ; to be in heart and life a willing 
instrument in the hand of God to promote his glory. 

The joy which is the fruit of the Spirit is an ex- 
otic, an importation transplanted from the far-oft 
clime. It is heaven sent, and guarded by the divine 
hand. It comes from God, ' ' in whose presence there 
is fullness of joy, and at whose right hand there 
are pleasures forevermore." Joy was in heaven on 
the birthday of our world, when the morning stars 
sang together and all the sons of God shouted for 
joy. It was the constant companion of the happy 
tenants of Eden until they yielded to temptation and 
sinned. Then joy forsook them, and fled from its 
first earthly home to its home with God. There was 
joy in the first promise of a coming " Yahveh" — Jesus. 
It was an anthem from the harps of heaven, the 



58 THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT. 

music of the river of life washing its shores on high, 
and pouring its fullness of joy upon our new-made 
earth. It was joy gushing from the fountains of eter- 
nal harmony and love ; joy first heard on earth in a 
minor key of solemn gladness, uttered by the Lord 
himself; joy in the heart and on the countenance, in 
the song and in the sacrifice of patriarchs and their 
families as they sheltered themselves beneath the 
streaming blood ; joy faintly shadowed in the deliver- 
ance from Egypt, and in the methods of that deliv- 
erance ; joy in the triumphal song of Moses and of 
Miriam; joy in the Tabernacle and in the Temple, and 
around all the altars of sacrifice where guilt was re- 
moved through the shed blood; joy everywhere as 
the children of Zion became joyful in their king. 

Joy burst forth on our own world on the birthday" 
of the Redeemer, when the angels of God brought 
good tidings of great joy. It was for the joy that 
was set before him of saving multitudes of our 
race that prompted Jesus to endure the cross, the 
shame, the death, due to sin, and then to rise and 
reign triumphant for evermore. It was joy without 
mixture or measure when the promise of the Father 
was fulfilled upon the company of believers in the 
upper room at Jerusalem, as the promised Comforter 
came and filled their souls with the Holy Spirit, as 
they saw the tongues of fire and uttered words of 
power. That joy is the inheritance of the children 
of God all along the ages. He never fails to com- 
municate joy to the believing heart. There is a joy 



joy. 59 

iu penitence, a joy in pardon, a joy in purity of heart, 
a joy rising higher and higher as the believer pr ■- 
gresses in holiness and loye; and as that believer ex- 
periences new and more abundant manifestation 
the divine goodness, he gathers daily in the path of 
duty larger measures of the fruit of the Spirit, which 
is love, joy, etc. 

• Indeed, this joy is love, filling the believer's cup 
love-full, and running over. It is love in action ; 
it is love recreating itself; it is love exulting for joy; it 
is the happiness of love. It is love aware of its own 
felicity, and luxuriating in riches it has no fear of 
exhausting. It is love out on the green pastures, walk- 
ing, leaping, and praising God. It is love beside the 
still waters, looking out on the vast ocean of bliss vet 
in store for it ; love taking stock, and looking at its 
ever increasing treasures in Christ Jesus, and surren- 
dering itself to bliss without foreboding. It is love 
out on the mountain of spices, climbing higher and 
still higher into regions of holy delight. It is love 
smiling, singing, running, working ; love returning 
love for love. It is love in the constant exercise of 
devotedness to God : love laying itself out in feeding 
the hungry, in clothing the naked, in doing good to 
the bodies and souls of others. This is joy. This is 
one of the rich, ripe fruits of the Spirit; 

" What nothing earthly give* or can destroy, 
The soul's calm sunshine and the heart-felt joy." 

"Joy is a fruit that will not grow in nature's barren soil ; 
All we can grow till Christ we know is vanity and toil. 



GO THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT. 

But when the Lord has planted grace, and made his glories 

known, 
There fruita of heavenly joy and peace are found, and there 

alone." 

There are no joys like those which the Gospel im- 
parts; none so solid, none so exquisite and heart-re- 
fining, none so enduring. Speak not of the false 
pleasures of the world, its bewildering excitement, its 
intoxicating gayeties, its lying vanities — these, you 
kuow full well, are a cheat upon your senses and your 
reason ; they are a fraud of the worst kind ; they are 
only the flashes of deception, that leave their poor, 
deluded votaries in deeper gloom. It belongs to the 
glorious Gospel and the indwelling Holy Spirit alone 
to afford the mind substantial and enduring joy. 
What a wealth of meaning there is in that promise 
of God to the sorrowing penitent: "To appoint unto 
them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty 
for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of 
praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be 
called Trees of righteousness." (Isa. lxi, 3.) In the 
East mourners put dust upon their heads ; Jesus gives 
them a diadem of beauty. Such is the meaning of 
the Hebrew, "Beauty for ashes." Anointing the 
head with oil was with the ancient Hebrews a mark 
of gladness and rejoicing ; so when Jesus undertakes 
to comfort the true mourner in Zion, he gives him 
the " oil of joy" — joy in its most divine and heavenly 
form. It is "the joy of the Lord," "the fulness of 
joy," "the joy of salvation," "joy in the Holy 



JOY. 61 

Ghost," and the "joy unspeakable." When God gives 
this oil of joy he also gives us " the garment of 
praise." If the heart be filled with joy the lips will 
praise him, for joy has a voice and a tongue. " I 
will praise thee with joyful lips ;" "I went with them 
to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise; " 
4 'my servants shall sing for joy of heart;" "let the 
inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the 
tops of the mountains." 

Bishop Thomson said, "The vast mass of Christian 
professors are like the rivers emptying into the Arctic 
Sea, frozen over at the mouth." The lips of the 
infant Plato were touched with Hymettian honey, 
that when he grew up there might flow forth the 
words of wisdom and blessing. When the "oil of 
joy" finds way to the heart, the lips will utter his 
great goodness with joyfulness. Love will find a 
tongue of utterance. Pythagoras enjoined upon his 
disciples a five years' novitiate of silence. Dr. Steele 
says it was "a command easily kept, for the frigid 
Grecian philosophy had no secret which constrained 
utterance." But the love of Jesus, fully shed abroad 
in the heart by the blessed Carrier Dove of heaven, 
is a mystery which must be divulged. Silence is im- 
possible: "I will declare w 7 hat he hath done for my 
soul." The heart often says and sings, "I love to 
tell the story." Said a dear old Scotch lady, who 
was earnestly seeking the Lord, "If Jesus will bless 
me, he will never hear the last of it." 



I in; PBUTT OF THE SPIRIT. 

J<iV a DUTY. 

To be joyful in the Lord is placed before as in 
his Word ;i> the common privilege of all Christians, 
and the measure of our privilege is the measure of 
our duty. We are required to he happy and joyous 
SB much OS fcO be patient and submissive. "Joy in 
the Boly Ghost" is one of the essential elements of the 
kingdom that is within the renewed heart. "Love" 
and "joy" are no less the fruits of the Spirit than 
"imrkiios" and "goodness" and faith. "The ways 
of wisdom are ways of pleasantness." "The path of 
the just is as the shining light that shineth more and 
more unto the perfect day." "The ransomed of the 
Lord Bhall come to Zion with songs and everlasting 
joy upon their heads." "Ye shall go out with joy, 
and be led forth with peace; the mountains and the 
bills Bhall break forth before you into singing, and all 
the trees of the field shall clap their hands." Believ- 
ers in Christ should nourish and cultivate this holy 
affection until they are enabled habitually to rejoice 
with j«.y unspeakable and full of glory. The joy of 
the Christian is of two kinds: the joy of hope and the 
joy <»j victory. Hope to the saint is like bread to the 
hungry man; it i< the sustaining and vivifying prin- 
ciple; he can no more subsist without it than he 
can wit lmut food; it is this that buoys him up under 

y trouble and every care to which he is exposed. 
When tin- Christian is harassed by doubts and fears, 

rely thrust at by the enemy, is almost ready to 



joy. 63 

despair and give up, hope keeps him above the 
waters, preserves him from making "shipwreck of 
faith and a good conscience;" he looks forward and 
almost realizes the time 

"When (oil and grief and pain shall cease, 
Where Jill is calm and joy :md peiice." 

But the Christian rejoices likewise in the joy of 
victory. Already he has conquered in many a well 
fought battle; already he has quenched, times innu- 
merable, the fiery darts of the wicked one; already he 
has in one degree overcome the world, the flesh, and 
the devil; and shall he at the last have to succumb, 
and own himself conquered? Shall he have to give 
up all in despair? What saith the apostle? "Who 
shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trib- 
ulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or naked- 
ness, or peril, or sword? Nay, in all these things we 
are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 
For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor 
angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things j^res- 
ent, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor 
any other creature, shall be able to separate us from 
the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." 

Have we individually realized the peace and joy 
of the Gospel ? Is the language of the prophet ours : 
"Thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst 
me?" If not, in vain we frequent the various haunts 
of pleasure. Simply or combinedly they are sure to 
leave an aching void. The finite can never satisfy 



$4 THE FBUIT OP THE SPIRIT. 

the longings of the infinite. We must "find in Christ 
the way of peace" or forever remain tossed about on 
life's tempestuous wave, and at the last be plunged 
into those abysmal depths where hope and mercy 
never come. 

I insert here with pleasure an extract from the 
pen of the Rev. Joseph Atwood on religious joy. 
lie says: 

"I see in some of the testimonies given in experi- 
ence meetings and in communications, that joy in 
religion and holiness was not to be sought or regarded 
as a test of purity. I think this has a chilling and 
discouraging influence on the seeker after this glori- 
ous experience. The object of a holy person is to 
(jlorifi) God in doing all the good he can in every 
possible way, winning all the souls he can as trophies 
for the Master, and building up the believer in the 
faith of the Gospel. But can he do this unless he has 
a warm and cheerful heart, and the 'joy cf the Lord' 
is in him, 'which is his strength?' Can he recommend 
to others the blessed religion cf Jesus Christ with 
power and unction unless he has the joy of the Lord 
in him? Is there no joy in perfect love, or even in 
the knowledge of sins forgiven? Is not joy an infal- 
lible fruit of the Spirit? Can Christ dwell in the 
heart by faith and no joy be there? The apostle 
speaks in one place of the 'joy of faith.' Now, can a 
person be a Christian, even of a low type, and have 
no saving faith in Christ? According to the above 
text, joy is connected with faith. 



joy. 65 

t( Ecstatic joy, I acknowledge, is not a test of sancti- 
fication; but a degree or measure of sweet joy in Christ 
which is inseparable from a living heart-faith in Christ 
is a test. We may be in ' heaviness through manifold 
temptations,' but not in darkness; for Christ says, 
'He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, 
but shall have the light of life;' and is there not a 
measure of joy when we have the light of Christ in us 
and ivith us ? I am not now speaking of Providential 
darkness. That we may be in and yet have a meas- 
ure of the joy of the Lord in us at the same time. 
'Clouds and darkness are round about him; right- 
eousness and judgment are the habitation of his 
throne.' This latter truth, imbedded in our souls, 
gives us a measure of joy. To be without some inward 
j:>y is t3 be without saving faith, and consequently 
without salvation. 

"It is true, we may be at times without sensible 
emotion, although that is a blessing for which we 
should be thankful ;- yet a living faith in Christ, which 
all Christians have, has a measure of solid joy deep 
down in the heart. If we have the giver, Christ, his 
gifts will be highly prized. But when he withholds 
them we can still rejoice, for we have the giver, Christ 
himself, who is better than all his gifts. He will never 
leave us nor forsake us while we trust in him. 

"Christ says to the apostles, 'These words have I 
spoken unto you that my joy might remain in you, 
and that your joy might be full. 1 Again: 'Hitherto 
you have asked nothing in my name; ask and receive, 

5 



THE FRUIT OF Tin: BPIBIT. 

that your joy may br full. 1 Previously they had been 
itemed to ask in the name of the Father only; 
bat n»u: b new dispensation opens to them, and there 
must be a change in the form of their petitions; now 
ask in my name, and receive fullness of joy. Peat 
the legacy of the Church. 'My peace I leave with 
yon, 1 saya Christ. Is there no joy in a sweet and 
heavenly peace of soul? 

"'The kingdom of God 'is righteousness, peace, 
and joy in the Holy Ghost.' The kingdom of God is 
true religion in the soul, consequently there is no re- 
ligion in the soul without a degree of joy in it. ' The 
fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,' etc., which 
proves clearly that when the Spirit of God dwells 
and works within ns, joy is the result invariably. 
' Whom having not seen ye love, in whom though 
now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy 
unspeakable and full of glory.' There is no attraction 
in the Gospel without it. The joy of the Lord in us 
inspires the soul to action and labor for God and souls. 
There is no rest, no relish, no power to work for Christ 
unless we have some joy in the Lord. No person can 
successfully work in the vineyard, unless he have a 
Bweet, joyous, and cheerful spirit. No person can do 
his best without it. 

"The Word of God assures us we may have rest 
of soul, liberty of spirit, and fullness of joy. ■ Come 
untQ me, . . . and I will give you rest.' 'Where 
the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 1 'Ask and 
receive, that your joy may be full.' Here is the triple 



joy. G7 

grace — rest of soul, liberty of spirit, and fullness of 
joy. Now, should we not desire them, and seek after 
them, that we may be qualified to ivorh more effectually 
for God and souls? Christ, for the joy that was set 
before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, 
and is set down at the right hand of the throne of 
God. The joy of redeeming a lost world was before 
Christ. There is joy in the heart of a believer, and 
worker, from the fact he has such company to work 
with; even God himself. 'Laborers together with 
God,' says the apostle. 

"There are degrees in faith, and there are degrees 
in joy, and just in proportion to our faith and love will 
be our joy. If our faith be weak, so all our Chris- 
tian graces will be proportionately weak. If the 
mainspring be weak all the machinery will move 
tardily. 

"Let us have unbounded faith and confidence in 
God, and his word, and our joy will abound also; dif- 
ficulties will vanish, valleys become level, mountains 
become mole-hills, or mountains of fog, which will 
disappear when we get up to them. The 'Gospel is 
the power of God unto salvation to every one that 
believeth/ and there is a sweet joy in full salvation 
from all sin. 

" Christ told the maniac, out of whom he cast the 
devils, to go home and tell his friends, how great 
things the Lord had done for him; and so when 
Christ cleanseth out of our hearts all the vile things 
that sin and Satan have put there, will there be no 



68 'I BE PBUIT OP THE 8PIBIT. 

joy, iliink you? There is joy in the presence of tlie 
angels of God in beaven over one repenting .-inner; 
much more, we think, when Christ has dethroned 

Satan, washed the BOUl clean in his own blood, and 
taken possession, net of the outposts merely, but of 
the citadel, the heart, and remains there as an abid- 
ing power and comforter; and where Christ <•' 
there is joy t whether on earth or in heaven. 

"It is perfectly consistent with truth, to have joy 
and sorrow in the same head. Paul .said he was 
rowful yet always rejoicing,' — sorrowful on account of 
a sinful and wicked world, but always rejoicing in his 
own personal salvation through the divine favor — BO, 
of the Christian worker. Paul, in writing to the 
Corinthians, says, ' I determined that I would not 
come to you again in heaviness' and then shortly add-, 
* My joy is the joy of you all.'' The spirit of joy and 
happiness in a minister in the pulpit has a wonderful 
power to diffuse itself through the congregation. The 
unconverted will see and feel that the minister pos- 
s something he does not, and conviction will seize 
his heart that he is a sinner, and he will be induced 
to come to Christ and seek the same salvation as he 
believes the minister has. Believers will be quickened 
and powerfully strengthened in the goo*d way. and God 
will be glorified. 

" It is the Spirit of God in the minister, of course. 
None but God can give this auction and joy of / 
So, all the glory belongs to God alone, and woe be 
to that minister or member who thinks he can do 



joy. 69 

any tiring good, or accomplish any work Cor Christ, 

without the power of the ever blessed Spirit of God 
to work with him and in him" 

We go into the orchard in the month of May or 
June; the trees have on their most beautiful dress, a 

cloud of blossoms delight the eye, and the air is per- 
fumed with a sweet fragrance. The hum of the bees 
fills the place with soft music. That orchard is a 
most enchanting spot. There are trees there full forty 
years old, but how little of the tree as now seen is of 
that age; all the boughs and twigs and fruit-spurs 
are of modern date. There are no blossoms on the 
old wood. The new fibre of last year's grow T th have 
all the blossoms. There never grow blossoms or fruit 
on the old dry bark of former years. Nor will the 
fragrant blossoms, and rich, ripe clusters of a holy re- 
ligious joy grow out of the dry profession of an old 
experience. We need the renewing graces of the 
Divine Spirit to sustain our religious joy. It requires 
the new fiber of last year's growth to allow the chem- 
istry of nature to form the new r aroma of the blossom 
and the newer fruit. When that fiber grows old 
there is neither blossom nor fruit upon it. So when 
the Christian ceases to grow in grace and in the knowl- 
edge and love of God, there can be in his experience 
no joyous confidence, no sweet enjoyment, no holy 
emotion, no anointing oil of gladness, no ripe cluster 
of fruit. 

I have no confidence in that kind of teaching 
which dwells upon the advantages of the "wilderness 



THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT. 

." and insists that it Lb profitable fur Christians to 
.!.!..■ of their time in heaviness through 
manifold temptations, in darkness and despond' 
in painful uncertainties as to their spiritual condition, 
1 uj>on the Btorm, wandering here and t 
v and faint, seeking rest, and finding i. 
Such is not the will of God concerning his children; 
I by hope, and the "joy of the Lord is 
their strength" — joy from him, joy in him, joy in his 
promises and in his service. Paul - Sorrowful, 

and " rejoice evermore." The 
full assurance of faith, and constant fellowship with 
the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ, furnishes 
an atmosphere of light and peace, of love and joy, 
in which every one of the Christian graces thrives 
and comes to rich and beautiful maturity. 

Plants and flowers may be kept alive in the dark- 
ened room or cellar, but fresh air and sunshine are 
indispensable to their beauty and perfection. In the 
dark they will never blossom, nor will they ever bear 
fruit. The prophet under the influence of a resolute 
and heroic faith could stand upon a heap of melan- 
choly ruins, his hopes all blasted and dead, and all 
his creature comforts withdrawn, and rise into a trans- 
port of holy joy and say. "Although the fig tree shall 
not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the 
labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield 
no meat ; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and 
there shall be no herd in the stalls: yet I will rejoice 
in the Lord, / will joy in the God of my salvation.'' 



JOY. 71 

As long as the firm foundations of our joy aro un- 
touched we can sing and shout for joy, even in (rials, 
temptations, reverses, and bereavements. It may do 
for Pharisees and hypocrites, for monks and nuns to 
be of a sad countenance and of a gloomy mien, but 
the believer is to wash his face, anoint his head, and 
eat his bread with joy. The comforts of the Lord, 
delighting his soul, should render his whole life beau- 
tiful and attractive. The recommendations of religion 
made by grim and gloomy professors only damage 
the truth. Gloomy and desponding Christians of 
morbid and melancholy spirit misrepresent the glorious 
Gospel of Christ. Believers are to shine as lights in 
the world, and worship the Lord in the " beauty of 
holiness;" they should come out into the clear sun- 
shine of perfect love, and should cultivate a happy, 
cheerful spirit in the work of God. 

is TRIUMPH. 

This joy in the Lord is indispensable to the child 
of God as a preparation for victory. It is his duty 
to work for souls. Those individual efforts are just 
now what the Church and the world most need. We 
need holy, devoted, joyous, courageous men and 
women, not a few, in this work. The love of God 
constraining them is the great qualification. That 
love shed abroad in their hearts is their confidence 
and joy enabling them to say, "that which we have 
felt and seen with confidence we tell." 

When from warm and glad hearts men declare 



tin; PBUIT OP THE BPIBIT. 

what ( >'»\ ha or them, and their joy is mani- 

to all around, their words become words of power. 
A joyous, happy Church is .sure to be a buco 
cue There was a great deal of philosophy as well as 
faith in the royal battery that Joshua opened upon 
Jericho, when he commanded the whole army to 
massive walls and impregnable for of the 

and every man to Btand in his place, and shout 
them to the dust 

It was a piece of divine philosophy to place Judah, 
whose name signified \ is the foremost tribe on 

march through the country from place to place, 
'• PRAISE" should always lead the hosts of God. 
6 • thought Jehoshaphat when surrounded by glitter- 
ed of the vast squadrons of Amnion and Moab. 
After fasting and prayer as a preparation for the ter- 
rible conflict, he " appointed singers unto the Lord," 
and that they should praise the beauty of holinea- 
they went out before the army, and to say, "Praise 
the Lord, fa- his mercy endureth forever." They 
not (..wards in that choir; they were not ascet- 
] 8 « ! ' : gloomy, faint-hearted hermits, away 

out in the front between the vast armies, sin^im: 
their song of praise and throwing out their loud 
hosannahs on the morning breeze. That chorus as it 
over the vale of Engedi was more damaging to 
us i f Moab than all the spears of Israel. 
Moab and Amnion could not stand the cheerful, jov- 
on the beauty of holiness and the glory 
• .1. 



joy. 73 

In the fifth century the Piets and Saxons attacked 
the Britons. The general who commanded the army 
of the Britons brought his forces to the Held in Belf- 
defensc. As they looked across the field and saw the 
ranks of the enemy strongly intrenched and very 
numerous, the commander ordered every man to send 
up to heaven a loud Alleluia three times in right 
hearty cheer. As the echo of the mighty shout rang 
and resounded through the air, the enemy caught the 
Alleluia and fled, leaving the Britons in possession of 
the well-fought field. Praise the Lord ! 

IS ENDURING. 

The joy of earth is short-lived, a flash, a shadow, 
a meteor's glare. The joy is solid, substantial, endur- 
ing, satisfying. "God is my exceeding joy," and he 
gives not as the world giveth. The world has no joy 
to communicate to its votaries. Its best is mirth or 
frivolity; not joy. Where mirth and frivolity fail, 
and fashion fails, and fortune fails, and friends fail, 
and earth's poor philosophies fail, then this fruit of 
the Spirit will delight and cheer the soul, and light 
up the dark valley and sing victory through the blood 
of the Lamb. The poet sings of joy : 

" 'T is an exotic of celestial birth, 

And never blooms but in celestial air. 
Sweet plant of Paradise! its seeds are sown 
In here and (here a breast of heavenly mold; 
It rises slow, and buds, but ne'er was known 
To blossom here — the climate is too cold." 



7 | THE FBI "IT OP THE SPIRIT. 

• A ve ■» p celestial joy on earthly ground, 
growing from faith and hope, and blooming, too, in a 
enly atmosphere where the death-damps of the 
tomb eonld not quench its ardor oor silence its - 
when- this blessed fruit feasted the bou! as it entered 
into the joy of our Lord. Dear reader, if your orbit 
Dearer to the Sun of righteousness, yon would 
have a warmer climate and your joy would bloom 
and your fruits would abound more and more. 

cial in its tendencies. It shuns monop- 
olists; it seeks companionship; it makes itself known; 
shines out in the countenance; makes every feature 
and expression of the face radiant with its beams. 
It tunes the voice to unwonted harmonies, and makes 
all around it share its bliss, and fills the livelong day 
with gladness. When the shepherd found the wan- 
dering, bleating lamb, and succeeded in carrying it 
home, he called his "friends and neighbors to rejoice 
with him." When the woman found her lost piece of 
silver, she, too, summoned parties to aid her in her 
rejoicings. 

Fresh notes of joy have often enriched the harmony 
of the Church of God ever since, as from bondage 
and exile, from dens and caves, from bloody fields 
and fiery stakes, from scaffold and from dungeon, the 
Spirit-baptized ones have been filled "with a joy un- 
speakable and full of glory," and have been heard 
to sing: 

"Joyfully, joyfully onward we move, 
Bound to the Land of bright spirits above." 



JOY. , 5 

On the way to Italy, across the Alps, we pass 
over what is called the "Devil's Bridge," and then 00 

and up to Gothard's Pass. After we have succeeded 
in making this ascent, we perceive at once and beyond 

all doubt that we are uow ou the sunny side of the 
Alps. The snow-drifts have all disappeared, the 
mountain icicle, so hard and cold, is melted. The 
sharp, cold, cutting winds are all gone. The air has 
become balmy with a thousand sweet perfumes that 
come up from meadow and orchard and garden and 
field. The singing of birds and the hum of the ever- 
busy bee all speak of the Summer land and warm 
sky. O how changed! What a difference there is 
between the [Northern and the Southern side of this 
pass! Just so it is in the experience of many of the 
members of our Churches. He who climbs above the 
cares and conflicts of the world, and who, unheeding 
self and rejects the selfish interests and vanities and 
follies of the world and sin, and who, with a firm 
trust of a heart undivided, turns his face to God 
through Jesus Christ, has found the bright and sunny 
side of life. He knows by experience that the world's 
side of life is chill, and sometimes even cold, or cold- 
ness itself. That coldness extends all through society, 
and even to the Church of God, and sometimes it 
creeps into the pulpit until the breath of prayer and 
exhortation is itself chilled with frosts of a spiritual 
death ; but the presence of the Lord gives the warmth 
of joy which turns Winter into Summer and cheers 
and gladdens every heart. 



76 THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT. 

There arc others who travel this way that appear 
never yet to have passed over ''Devil's Bridge." 
They are .-till loitering at the many resting-places far 
down the slopes, or they arc plunging into the deep 
sorrow-drifts of their own personal un worthiness, ever 
learning and never able to come to the knowledge of 
the truth. They have not been able as yet, through 
their unbelief, to see the preciousness and all-suffi- 
ciency of the Lord Jesus Christ, being weak in purpose 
and in faith. They abide amidst the Winter of their 
doubts and fears, like Israel of old in the wilderness 
of Zin, and, like Israel, they endure many a poison- 
ous bite from the serpents, and many of their car- 
casses lie in that wilderness. If they only had faith 
enough to press forward and surmount their many 
little spiritual impediments, how T soon they might 
cross over that pass and enjoy the blessings on the 
sunny side, where Bunyan says the birds are always 
singing and the flowers are always blooming. There 
they could sing: 

" 2so\\ I have found the ground wherein 
Sure my soul's anchor may remain; 
The wounds of Jesus for my sin 

Before (lie world's foundations slain; 
"Whose mercy shall unshaken slay, 
When heaven and earth are fled away." 

It is delightful traveling in the mild sunshine, our 
temples fanned by the balmy breezes, with a heart 
full of gratitude on a remembrance of the bleak and 
wintery road through which we have traveled. 



joy. 77 

An Alpine traveler thus describes a morning walk 
he took with his companions and guide: 

4 'We were aroused this morning from our much- 
needed slumbers by a loud rap at our door, accom- 
panied by the earnest voice of our faithful guide: 
'Gentlemen, please arise, dress quickly, and let us 
ascend the mountain immediately. There is a beauti- 
ful sight up the mountain. It will soon be gone. 
Please come quickly; I know it will please you.' 
Being wearied and disposed to rest, and thinking him 
over-zealous, we urged that it was too early; that it 
was pouring down rain, and that it was not pleasant 
to go up in a thunder-storm; moreover, that we must 
have breakfast first. With great kindness and ear- 
nestness he urged his entreaty, saying that he knew 
we never would regret it, and that it would not do 
an hour hence. 

"In a few moments we were out, umbrellas in 
hand, following our guide in the street through mud 
and rain. Leading the way he urged us on, 'Come 
quickly, gentleman, come quickly; it will soon be too 
late.' It must be something more than ordinary, 
thought the travelers, as they paused to rest a mo- 
ment, that will pay us for such a run as this up-hill 
in rain and storm. Our guide urged us on, assuring 
us of a good reward if we would only haste up the 
mountain on and up in the rain, a narrow zigzag 
course, rocky and difficult. Now we were climbing an 
overhanging cliff and then pushing our way through 
the dripping foliage of the shrubbery on either hand. 



78 THE FRUIT OF THE BPIRIT. 

The cloud began to thicken as we entered it. We 
were Boon in the cloud; it became more and more 
dense and dark, until we were almost lost to each 
Other and to the world around Ofl in a vast ocean of 
mist, a soft, .smooth, white vapor. 

"As we ascended cloud-land it became darker, 
colder, and more dense; but the voice of our guide 
encouraged us as he still urged us on. We cool I 
nothing of all that surrounded us except a little path 
on which we trod, and to see that we must press 
forward upon it. 'We'll soon be there,' shouted our 
guide, as he pressed on some distance ahead of ns ; 
'the light is breaking.' 'Here it is,' said he in tones 
of exultation. The next moment suddenly our heads 
rose above the level of the cloud, and we passed the 
boundary line of cloud land, where misty ocean meets 
with an ocean of light, up into the clear air and sun- 
shine. O what sunshine; such bright and beautiful 
sunshine, so abundant! From the mountain-top we 
could on all sides see, not the valleys full of life, but 
a vast ocean of mist hiding them and the mountain 
slopes from our view, with here and there an island 
or mountain-top bathed in sunshine. O how beautiful ! 

"We thanked our guide over and over. Such a 
scene we never saw before, and may never see one 
like it again. It would well repay one to cross the 
Atlantic and come all the way here to see this enchant- 
ing view. We had no conception of so much glory 
in an earthly scene. Away below was the village, 
full of life. We could hear the hum of busy labor, 



JOY. 79 

the ringing of the village school-bell, the noise of 
village carts, the barking of dogs and the lowing of 
cattle. In the distance down the mountain-side we 
could see the flashing of the lightning and hear the 
rolling of the thunder. The birds were visible on 
every hand, darting up through the cloud into the 
sunshine, and then disappearing again in the dense 
mist, singing as they went out of sight, as if to remind 
their mates that there was song and sunshine and 
joy and gladness for all who ascended the mountain." 
To one in my state of mind at that time, seeking 
and longing earnestly night and day for the joy and 
sunshine of a full salvation, there was in this picture 
of nature a curious symbol of many things. The 
principles of nature and natural philosophy often af- 
ford beautiful illustrations of the principles governing 
the economy of grace, when those lessons of nature 
are viewed in the light of the divine Spirit. The God 
of nature is the God of grace, and there is perfect har- 
mony between his works and his lessons of grace. To 
me it seemed there was a voice, saying, "Faith may 
any morning ascend the mountain top, and see the 
fogs and storms of unbelief under her feet, as she lux- 
uriates in the joyous sunshine on the mount of perfect 
love. The sunshine and beauty of such a scene are 
never seen by those who remain in the valley. To 
enjoy them, we must go up on the mountain ; must 
make the sacrifice of time and ease and creature en- 
joyments, and strive and toil and climb and trust, 
until the point is gained. Like the pedestrian start- 



gO THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT. 

ing in the mud and rain up the mountain slope?, 
onv.anl and upward, walking, creeping, climbing, 
obeying, trusting, undiscouraged by cloud or storm, 
till his face glistens in the Bunbeam, and his heart 
rejoices in the fullness of joy, and he sees the fogs and 
Btormfl all below him, and returns, not to forget the 
splendor of the sunlit summit, but to tell his neigh- 
bors and friends of more than meridian brightness 
and beauty; or, like the bird soaring from the earth, 
when it is dark and rainy, flying up and up and on- 
ward, undiscouraged, till heaven, is shining on her 
wings, and the clouds and storms are in the distance 
below her, and then returning, singing to her com- 
panions of sunshine and fair weather; — so Faith, when 
all is dark and dreary without, and all is fog and 
fear within, rises upward and onward, higher and 
higher, till heaven is visible, and God is seen shining 
in the face of Jesus Christ; and then, as it were, it 
comes back with gladness and joy of heart to tell of 
good cheer." 

To me the voice seemed again to impress my mind 
with these thoughts : No man will undertake the task 
of climbing the mountain of faith or perfect love, 
until roused from the fatal slumbers of carnality, 
formality, and unbelief. The sleeper must "awake 
and arise." There must be a listening ear to the voice 
of the trusty guide. The voice of dull sloth, the lull 
of nature, the siren song of the tempter, must not be 
hcjird by him whose duty is to go on to perfection, 
lie must spring from the couch of apathy, of ease, 



JOY. 81 

and of indifference, and gird himself to duty, to toil, 
and to sacrifice, that he may win the prize. 

There must be confidence in the guide and in the 
possibility of obtaining the sought-for blessing. The 
man who is in doubt of the ability or willingness of 
Christ to save is not likely to seek salvation through 
him. There are many in the Church who refuse to 
go up to the "Pisgah of faith;" they will not climb 
the mount of holy contemplation, nor will they be- 
lieve those who have gone up. They live away from 
the sacred scenes of Calvary, of Tabor, and of Pisgah ; 
they live away dow T n in the vale of Siddim, or of doubt 
and despondency, surrounded by the fog and dust 
and smoke of w r orldly-mindedness and party feeling. 
There are loud calls made at the door of their intel- 
lect and of their heart by the special providence of 
God, by the influences of the Holy Spirit and the 
Word of God, to aw r ake out of their sleep and haste 
to the mountain. The great majority refuse to listen 
to these calls; and some who do hear, and arise and 
make a fair start, and give good promise, never get 
any farther than Zoar. God says, "Escape to the 
mountain." They go a little way, and become weary, 
and refuse to enter into the joy of their Lord. 

There must be a firm determination to go — to go 
at all hazards; to go the w r hole way; to surmount all 
the trifling hindrances and difficulties that may pre- 
sent themselves ; to overcome every form of opposi- 
tion ; to meet sin, earth, Satan, and self, and all their 
combined forces, in Jesus' name, and conquer all these 



82 THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT. 

through the blood of the Lamb. A fixed determina- 
tion of mind is all important in order to succeed. 
There can be no joy in an undecided service. To be 
able to say, " O God, my heart is fixed," is to have 
a victory already won. From the top of the mount- 
ain, men have clearer views of the surrounding 
country ; they who would have clearer views of 
heaven and glory must get as near heaven as they 
can, as far up on the mount of vision as possible ; 
they must resolve to go up and possess the goodly 
land. "I can, and I will, and I do believe," has 
helped many persons in the exercise of their faith. 
" We are well able to overcome it" has enabled many 
an earnest soul to enter the land of sunshine and joy. 
The Spirit led John, and then it carried him up 
into a great and high mountain ; ' ' and the Spirit of 
the Lord caught away Philip." These men had 
yielded themselves to the Spirit's teachings and influ- 
ences. They had given themselves to the Spirit to do 
his work and obey his commands. The Spirit led 
John, and there it carried him. Had John refused 
to be led and rejected its counsels, it would not have 
taken him to the mount of holy vision. The mount- 
ain top is a position men do not slide into, but climb 
up to. Those mountain -top believers climb up the 
steep ascent in many a storm and through many a 
dark cloud, and often in the early morn without 
breakfast. They usually go up by the stairway of 
Gospel promises — the sunlit summit being visible only 
to the eve of faith. 



::v. ; I 



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-•'-.* t: : ;.: ::~:t~ ;ii :::::::::r ; :ii ;: 

z \ =; n: : ~i =,:•:•- l:sr ::zr -i; i_5 

: .- ", ::iY.: ^: : :: Ti- -"-- > 



84 THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT. 

Sometimes we say of the path up the mountain, 
"This can not be the way of duty; the mountain here 
is too high, too steep, too rugged. The path for me 
must go some other way. I am sure it must. I think 
I will try this way around the mount." Do not try 
it, reader. I have tried all those by-paths, so full of 
selfish ease and worldly comfort. Remember " By-path 
Meadow" and "Giant Despair's Castle" and the tears 
of the pilgrims who sought the sunshine on the mount, 
and tried to parley with flesh and blood by going 
round the mountain. Some of these paths that prom- 
ise so fair and look so much like the path of duty 
would lead you round by side-galleries, across drifts 
of snowy reasonings as cold and as deceitful as the 
crust of glittering ice that, among the Alps, covers 
the fissures where, if you step, you sink and are out 
of sight forever. Keep in the path of obedience, the 
path of firm and unwavering trust. There is no joy 
or comfort in any other path. The appointed way 
may be rough and steep, and sometimes dark and 
difficult; still, follow your Guide and joyfully sing, "I 
am trusting, Lord, in thee." In the path of obedi- 
ence alone are you safe. Up and on, then, as he 
directs. It is the path of faith, simple, strong, stub- 
born faith; faith in God's word; faith in God's myste- 
ries; faith in God's promises; faith in God's Spirit; faith 
in God's Son; faith in the all-cleansing blood; faith, 
active, living faith; faith without reasoning; faith 
without feeling; faith agaiust reason; faith against 
feeling; faith before feeling; faith in God's word; 



joy. 85 

because it is his word, faith because God says so — 
that is the highest reason. 

"Save us by grace through faith alone, — 

A faith thou inust thyself impart; 
A faith that would by works be shown, 

A faith that purifies the heart; 
A faith that doth the mountain move; 

A faith that shows our sins forgiven ; 
A faitli that sweetly works by love, 

And ascertains our claim to heaven." 

That faith, dear reader, in exercise on Jesus 
Christ, will bring you into the sunshine of a full salva- 
tion, and it will bring sunshine and joy into your soul. 
O for a firm resolve to be his ! Then can you sing, 

"Dwell who will in the valley below, 

I go up into the sunshine ; 
Free and warm, and glad in its play, 
Life and light are in every ray, 
Beaming to brighter and brighter day; 
Let who will in the valley stay, 

I go up into the sunshine ! 

Mists are down in the valley below, 
Shadow and cloud wave to and fro ; 
The rivers go creeping, sluggish and slow; 
The very winds have forgotten to blow; 
Dwell who will in the valley below, 
I go up into the sunshine ! 

Down in the valley tread listless feet; 
The pulses move with a measured beat ; 
The senses are steeped in a calm unmeet; 
The soul is lulled by an opiate sweet : 
Let who will to the valley retreat, 
I go up into the sunshine! 



86 THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT. 

On (he golden summits the morning sings 
Like a glad bird pluming her radiant wings* 
The torrents flash like living things ; 
Sparkling and foaming the rivulet springs; 
Every bright drop like a joy-bell rings, 
Away up there in the sunshine ! 

There in the veins the life-currents flow; 
The heart with fervor is all aglow; 
Trumpet-calls the wild breezes blow ; 
The soul like a warrior would go ; — 
Stay who will in the valley below, 
I go up into the sunshine." 



PEACE. 87 



III. Pekde. 

"The angel song, that happy night, 
When spirits stooped to mortal ken, 
Warbled from lips and lyres of light, 

Was 'Peace on earth, good will to men.'" 

PEACE and love are said to be the cherubim that 
united their spread wings over the mercy-seat, as 
they gazed intently into the meaning of the sprinkled 
blood and its purchased blessings. 

In the chapter on joy I said that love, joy, and 
peace are a glorious trio in the human heart. Of the 
three, peace comes first in order, and never comes 
alone. Being always in such good company, it par- 
takes more or less of the nature of the other two 
graces, so that much that has been said on love and 
joy is equally true and appropriate when speaking of 
the nature of peace. 

The word "peace" (in Latin pax, in Italian pace, 
in French paix, Anglo-Saxon pais) may come either 
from pactio, an agreement or compact, which produces 
peace, or it may be derived from the Greek, paio, to 
cease, because in peace there is a cessation of all 
violent action and commotion. It means a state of 
freedom from agitation, commotion, or disturbance; 
tranquillity, quiet, calm, rest. These terms, though. 



88 THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT. 

often used as synonymous, have a different meaning. 
Peace means a cessation of trouble or freedom from 
disturbing elements. Quiet, from the Latin quies, 
denotes stillness or repose, and is the antithesis of 
disturbance. Tranquillity is opposed to agitation. 
Calm is the state of repose after a storm. Rest means 
a cessation of weariness or of labor or motion. To 
the weary and heavy-laden God offers red. A good 
man enjoys tranquillity in himself, peace with others, 
quiet in his family, and calm after a storm. 

We speak of national peace when "no longer from 
its brazen portals the blast of war's great organ shakes 
the skies." "We speak of social peace, that source and 
soul of life, beneath whose calm, inspiring influence 
arts, science, and religion prospers. We speak of 
ecclesiastical peace when in the Church of God 

"Sweet pence is ever found 
In her eternal home on holy ground." 

But the peace that is the fruit of the Spirit is a 
"peace with God," arising from a sense of our recon- 
ciliation to him. It is 

" Pardon written with his hlood, 
The favor and the peace of God." 

IS A DIVINE PEACE. 

It comes from " the God of peace," purchased "by 
the Prince of peace," and communicated by the Spirit 
of peace. "He it is that speaketh peace to his peo- 
ple." "He maketh peace." "He blesses his people 



PEACE. 89 

with peace." " He came to send peace." "The peace 
of God rule in your hearts." "Peace I leave with 
you, my peace I give unto you." "The kingdom of 
God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy 
Ghost." 

Peace is love reposing ; love resting among the 
sweet flowers and green pastures beside quiet waters. 
It is that great calm which comes over the conscience 
when the will of the sinner comes to terms with the 
Savior, and he experiences the fullness and all-suffi- 
ciency of the atonement. It is the unclouded azure in 
the sea of glass. It is a soul, which Christ has accepted 
and saved, spread out in serenity and simple trustful- 
ness, and the Lord God mercifully and graciously 
smiling on it. It is the still music of the soul. It is 
the calm sunset of a Summer's Sabbath. It is the 
olive-branch hung out from above, a sign of judgment 
abating. It is Jerusalem, or rather Salem, which is 
the vision of peace, A peace is of the nature of a 
conquest, for then both parties are nobly subdued and 
neither party loser. 

"'Pence' was tlie word our Savior breathed 

When from our world his steps withdrew ; 
The gift he to his friends bequeathed, 

With Calvary and the cross in view. 
Redeemer! with adoring love, 

Our spirits take Ihy rich bequest, 
The watchword of the host above, 

The passport to their realm of rest." 

Go to the margin of some transparent lake, whose 
placid bosom reflects all the beauty and loveliness of 



90 THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT. 

surrounding nature; for there you have the sweetly 
soft and delightful emblem of a heart filled with the 
peace of God. 

The tree of peace strikes its roots into the crevices 
of the everlasting rock, and casts all around its cooling 
shade, and makes sweet music in the storm, and re- 
freshes the weary traveler with its rich fruit in a 
parched land where no water is. To know whether 
God be at peace with you, ascertain first if you be at 
peace with him. This is the note in the index; and 
if you find it there, you may be sure to find the other 
in the book. He that looked westward for the rising 
sun, saw it long before those that looked for it in the 
east. He looked for its appearance on the tops of 
the mountains, v T here he saw it gilding their crests. 
So the best way to see whether God is at peace with 
us, is to look back upon ourselves and within ourselves 
and see our condition towards God. Some persons of 
note hold that the answer by Urim and Thummim 
was by the appearance of the stones in the breast- 
plate of the high-priest. This we do know, that if 
Ave look into our ow T n heart carefully we may see how 
we stand affected to God and to his cause and people ; 
and by that we may perceive how he stands to us. 
When the sun is half hidden from our view, and the 
rays of light that do not penetrate through to us are 
of a lurid hue, w T e all know that there is nothing the 
matter with the sun, but that the sole reason of its 
strange appearance is the medium through which its 
li<rht is transmitted. 



PEACE. 91 

If we should study spiritual things as we do the 
natural, we should know and confess that when our 
heart3 are turned toward God its own sins and im- 
purities are the only impediments to peace. Peace 
may be bought two ways. One way is as Gideon 
sought it, when he built an altar in Ophrah and 
named it Jehovah-shalom , "God send peace." He 
sought the peace he loyed so well by chasing the ene- 
mies of the Lord out of the country, and many of 
them out of time, as the Lord commanded him; and 
peace was sent in God's way. "The country was in 
quietness forty years in the days of Gideon." The 
other way of seeking peace is as Menahem did, when 
he gaye the king of Assyria a thousand talents of 
silver as a bribe ; but we have no assurance that it 
will be permanent. 

You may win your peace or buy it — win it by 
determined resistance to evil, or buy it by compromise 
with evil. You may buy your peace with seared, 
silenced consciences; you may buy it with broken 
vows; buy it with lying words; buy it with base con- 
nivances; buy it with the blood of the slain, and the 
cry of the captive, and the shriek of lost souls. Rus- 
kin says, "No peace was ever won from fate by sub- 
terfuge or agreement. Xo peace is ever in store for 
any of us, but that which we shall win by victory 
over shame or sin, victory over the sin that oppresses 
us as well as over that which corrupts us." 

Peace is compared to a river in Isa. xlviii, 18 : 
M O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments ! 



92 THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT. 

then had thy peace been as a river, and thy right- 
eousness as the waves of the sea." It is like a river, 

1. In its origin, — Small at first, pure, sparkling, 
vigorous, joyous, rapid. 

2. In its progress, — Widening and deepening. The 
prophet saw the waters rise to his ankles, then to 
the knees, then to the loins; from the loins the river 
rose to be waters to swim in, a river that can not be 
passed over; receiving new tributaries on the right 
and from the left, new elements of power and strength 
from the means of grace as they are supplied with 
the dew of heaven and with refreshing showers of 
blessing, sweeping away as it rolls on in its strength, 
the obstacles of unsanctified affections and unconquered 
passions. 

3. In its influence, — Purifying, healthy, generat- 
ing, life-giving, life-sustaining; in every way service- 
able to society, spreading beauty and fruitfulness all 
around. 

4. In its various changes, — Varying in its depths, 
currents, course, tributaries, associations. 

5. In its abiding clmracter. It is not a fitful hap- 
piness that, like the morning dew, soon disappears. 
It is not an experience that comes and goes as the sea- 
sons change. It is abiding, constant, permanent; a 
river of beauty, fertility, and perpetuity; always there, 
rolling on and on, widening and deepening as it rolls, 
becoming more powerful and influential as it makes 
its way to the ocean of eternal blessedness. The 
mountain freshet and Summer rill and rivulet pass 



PEACE. 93 

away and evaporate in desert air ; but the river, beau- 
tiful emblem of Gospel peace, holds on its way de- 
spite all opposition. 

"The peace of which, O Lord, 

Thou art the gracious giver, 
In one grand, tidal current 

Sweeps onward like a river, — 
A river of deep waters, 

Unfailing is their source; 
No noontide sun can drink them, 

No power can stay their course; 
They flow in solemn stillness, 

Yet with resistless force: 
And long as Zion standeth, 

God's everlasting mountain, 
So long shall gush that river 

Exulting from its fountain." 

6. Ill its termination, — Pouring into and mingling 
with the shoreless sea of perfect peace in heaven, where 
waves never roll in strife or break in sad despair. 

" 'T is like a river, deep and strong, 
Still widening as it flows along; 
And on its bosom we may glide, 
Serene and safe, wliate'er betide, 
Till Death's dim, shadowy bark shall come 
To bear us to our heavenly home." 

A ship's compass is so constructed that it keeps 
its level amidst all the heavings and tossings of old 
ocean. Though that compass forms part of a struc- 
ture that feels every motion of the restless waters, it 
has an arrangement of its own which keeps it always 
in place and constantly in working order. Examine 
it when you will, night or day, in the storm or in the 



94 THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT. 

calm, iii auy latitude, on salt water or fresh, and you 
will find it pointing — tremblingly, perhaps, but truly — 
to the pole. Bo each one of us, in this life, out, as 
we are, on the ocean of time, needs to have the needle 
so adjusted, that amid the storms of time and the fluc- 
tuations of our earthen vessel, it may be kept in a 
position to feel the power of its great attraction to 
our heavenly home. 

" O learn that pence, sweet peace, is ever found 
In her eternal home, on holy ground." 

That peace will be to the soul what the compass is to 
the ship. May it be ours ! 

This peace is not the natural product of the hu- 
man heart; it is not ours in our carnal state. The 
central idea of the sinner is self; and by a law of his 
unrenewed nature, his self-ism makes war on God, 
and on all goodness. The internal and life-directing 
force of his nature is sinful; and all his thoughts, 
words, and actions are impure as the fountain from 
whence they flow. In this state he can not have 
peace ; there is an uneasiness and disquiet of soul, an 
unrest of spirit. The man opposes himself, opposes 
truth and virtue and holiness. How true it is, "He 
is like the troubled sea, which can not rest." "There 
is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. And the 
way of peace have they not known." They fully in- 
dorse the creed of the Epicurean, " Eat, drink, and 
be merry;" and they offer their soul the richest and 
most luxurious dainties of earth, but their immortal 
nature scorns a portion so miserably poor. 



PEACE. 95 

Apart from the natural enmity to God, there arc 
the elements of strife and contention in the human 
heart. The intellect claims the ascendency over the 
passions, and the understanding and the conscience 
aspire to govern the carnal mind and the unruly 
will. Evil passions, sinful propensities, and vicious ap- 
petites, too, make war upon each other, as each dom- 
inant feeling seeks indulgence at the expense of the 
other, and presses its claim until all the forces of the 
soul are marshaled and called into exercise, and fill the 
horizon of the mind with storm and tempest, driving 
the man almost to despair and death. 

Blinded by sin, and indurated by unbelief, he may 
often cry, "Peace, peace;" but it is a false peace, a 
calm that only forebodes the near approach of the 
ruinous earthquake or the pitiless storm ; it is a stolid 
indifference, a carnal security, a sort of numbness of 
the soul, like the coma after fever or after the use of 
opiates. It is not the balmy rest of nature's sweet 
restorer, but the paralysis of consciousness, the death 
stupor of one who has the fatal leprosy. 

Where there is sin there will be fear, for they w T erc 
twin-born into our world, and all the alchemy of hell 
can not separate fear from sin. It is still true, 

" That God hath yoked to guilt 
Her pale tormentor — misery. " 

Guilt is the source and fountain of sorrow; it is 
the avenging fiend that follows us with whips and 
stings, and wherever it exists there is distraction, dis- 



96 THE FRUIT OF THE .SPIRIT. 

quiet, discomfort, and if guilt be not removed, there 
will be remorse and everlasting woe. 

To remove that fear and guilt by removing their 
cause is the office of the Spirit, and the fruit of the 
Spirit is peace. The first blessing our first parents 
lost by sin was peace, and peace is the first blessing 
received in answer to penitent, believing prayer. The 
Holy Spirit illuminates the mind, applies the divine 
Word to the conscience, draws the affections, subdues 
the will, prompts the earnest prayer, encourages the 
heart, makes sin more and more hateful, makes holi- 
ness more and more desirable, helps our infirmities, 
increases our faith, and brings the happy tidings of 
"a pardon, written with his blood, the favor and the 
peace of God." " The Spirit itself beareth witness 
with our s£)irit, that we are the children of God." The 
peace enjoyed by the believer is the result of the tes- 
timony of that Spirit. None but Jesus can say to 
that tempest-tossed spirit, "Peace, be still." AVhen 
he speaks, there is a calm — the warring passions are 
lulled to quiet, a heavenly peace fills the soul ; there 
is rest from all the disturbing elements of sin arid 
fear, of pride and auger ; every fugitive desire and 
feeling is arrested ; God becomes the grand center of 
all his thoughts, to whom they ever turn instinctively 
as the needle to the pole ; the tide and current cf 
their entire being is reversed ; the polarity of the scul 
is changed, and now 

"It finds in him the way of peace, 
Peace unspeakable, unknown." 



PEACE. 97 

St. Augustine, in one of his beautiful meditations, 
says, " O God, thou madest man for thyself, and our 
hearts are restless till they find repose in thee." A 
greater than he has said, " In the world ye shall have 
tribulation, but in me ye shall have peace." The 
world has no such boon to bestow. It is all divine. 
" May the God of peace himself give you peace, 
always, by all means !" 

is GREAT. 

Among our blessings this peace is of greatest im- 
portance. Peace is joy in sweet and happy repose ; but 
if our peace be disturbed, then our joy and our love 
and all our graces suffer. Peace is the queen of all 
our graces, "governing and protecting, by her mild 
sway, all our passions and affections." Paul says, 
"Let the peace of God rule in your hearts." And 
again, "And the peace of God shall keep your hearts 
and minds, through Jesus Christ." The word trans- 
lated "keep" means to guard, watch, garrison, pro- 
tect, as one holds a citadel or a fortress; so this peace 
shall keep our hearts, the seat of all our affections, 
passions, hopes, and fears. Let her sway be fully 
owned and sacredly kept, and abiding happiness shall 
be thy portion. Then, "like a beautiful city at rest, 
calmly sleeping upon the waters, such will be the 
Christian's peace." As Salem or Jerusalem among 
the cities of Judah, so is peace among the graces of 
the Christian. As the calm sunset of a Summer's 
Sabbath among the surrounding landscapes, so is 

7 



98 THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT. 

peace among the fruits of the Spirit. The Psalmist 
said, " Great peace have they who love thy law." 
But he did not attempt to describe it. The eloquent 
Paul says it is a "peace which passeth all under- 
standing.'' Neither David nor Paul could measure its 
altitude nor sound its depths. Our sainted fathers 
used to say, as deep emotion swelled their bosoms, 
" It is better felt than told.'' It transcends all meas- 
urements and all utterance. 

is PERFECT. 

It is remarkable how fastidious some good and 
wise men are in regard to the application of this word 
"perfect" They use it themselves when speaking of 
the perfection in nature and of art, as when applied 
to the perfect child, perfect man, perfect animal, per- 
fect plant, perfect flower, perfect fruit, perfect ma- 
chine, perfect artist ; and they show no squeamishness 
in quoting Scripture language, speaking of perfect 
weights, perfect measures, perfect lots, perfect gold, 
perfect ways, perfect hatred, perfect day, perfect 
beauty, perfect understanding, perfect knowledge, per- 
fect soundness, perfect will, perfect in weakness, per- 
fect law, perfect gift, perfect work, and a thousand 
other things spoken of as " perfect." But the moment 
we quote the Word of God in its application to Chris- 
tian character and Christian privilege, and speak of 
"perfect love" or "perfect peace" or apply the term to 
any of the fruits of the Spirit, they are surprised, 
alarmed, and offended, and begin to cavil at the 



PEACE. 99 

meaning of the term " perfect. " I need n 

waders of this little book thai rd k ' per: 

in its application to Chris -ame im- 

port that it has when applied to God, to angel? 

bo Eden, :: :. Noah or J the perfect 

man of the Psalmist, be:. 

has its own peculiar perfection, and we do not attach 
the perfection of one class of beings :: anothei 
of beings, nor do we attribute the perfec:: o : I 
of beings urdrr :^::ain circumstances fa the same 
beings under &nothei and tifterenl 

:: :J-cumstan:es. The perfection of God and of 
angels is no! spoken of in reference to man. The 
perfection of man in his pristine state is :r_r kind; 
the perfection of good men under the | I dis- 

pensation is another; the perfection under the Jr 
dispensation is another: the perfection nndez the 
Christian dispense: _ :- inothei :md the perfection 
of men in their glorified state wifl be quite another — 
each differing from the rifaer, and 7^: each perfect 
Be much on the term here ::-t : .. 

Our peace is "per/feet," siniply because it is the 
"peace of God." Om love is perfect "oecause it 
is the love : God" shed abroad in the heart. 
M Thou wilt keep bim in pe-n'ed peace whose mind is 
stayed on thee." It is a great mercy :: have the 
G^rcl of peace, bat it is 1 ::: greater : have the 
peace of the Gospel. 

There is one most peculiar expression :sed by the 
Apostle Paul when speaking of this rich inheritaz se tn 



100 THE FRUIT OP THE SPIRIT. 

those who are justified by faith. He says, " "We have 
peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ;" that 
is, peace as the fruit of faith in Christ. How rich 
aud comprehensive are these words ! It seems to 
me as if the whole Gospel were condensed into that 
one verse. It is the substance and marrow of all that 
is said in the New Testament on the plan of salvation. 
Never were so many weighty words compressed to- 
gether in such a narrow compass: "Peace with God;" 
not " the peace of God" — a form of expression often 
used where reference is made to that serenity of soul 
which God gives — but peace with him, as indicating a 
condition of reconciliation in opposition to that aliena- 
tion and enmity which formerly existed. Peace with 
God implies an adjustment of a controversy that had 
existed ; and, as a result, great tranquillity and com- 
fort of mind are expressed in the word "peace." 

It is worthy of note that Paul is giving testimony 
of a fact when speaking of this peace. It is not an 
exhortation to seek it, but a declaration on his part 
of its possession. He uses the language of one giving 
testimony concerning an acknowledged fact. That 
testimony was given with a clear, strong, definite 
voice. Paul stood upon the firm rock of a personal 
experience, and affirms that of which he was himself 
a partaker. If there be any thing capable of being 
clearly established by human testimony, it is the 
reality of this unspeakable peace — the third ripe fruit 
of the Holy Spirit. Peace is the first in the order of 



PEACE. 101 

reception; for there can be no joy until peace is pro- 
claimed and enjoyed. 

This blessing of peace transcends every thing else 
which this life contains or this world can give. There 
are many kinds of so-called peace. There is a false 
peace— an illusion born of error. There is a peace 
which proceeds from ignorance, which an hour's 
thoughtfulness would dispel as the morning sunbeam 
scatters the darkness. There is a peace in the man 
who lives for himself and has no noble aspirations 
prompting him to seek his rest in God, but it is 
merely the quiet of a mind preoccupied with other 
things ; it is more a vacuum of mind than a peace. 
There is rest upon the caverned lake which no wind 
can stir; but that is the peace of stagnation. There 
is peace among the rocks and stones that have rolled 
down the mountain-side, and lie there covered with 
earth and verdure; but that is the peace of inanity. 
"We have peace in our Church," said a minister; 
"but, then, we are all frozen together." There is a 
peace in the hearts of enemies who lie side by side in 
the same trench of the battle-field. The strife with 
them has ceased, the animosity of their souls is hushed 
at length, and their hands are no longer clinched in 
deadly enmity; but that is the peace of death. If 
our peace be but the peace of mental torpor and 
inaction, the peace of apathy or indifference, or the 
peace of the soul dead in trespasses and sins, we may 
whisper "peace, peace," but there can be no peace. 



102 THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT. 

This peace with God has in it elements essentially dif- 
fering from any thing here alluded to. It is an 
intelligent, thoughtful, truthful, substantial peace, — 
' 'the peace that passeth all understanding." 



LONG-SUFFERING. 103 



IV. " I<oi|^ufferin£» 

" Patience ! why, 't is the soul of peace. 
Of all the virtues 'tis the nearest kin to heaven; 
It makes men like the gods. The best of men 
That e'er wore earth about him, was a sufferer — 
A soft, meek, patient, humble, tranquil spirit." 

r I ^HE Greek word rendered " long-suffering" is com- 
-*- pounded of two words signifying long and mind, 
and means long-minded, forbearing, patient, not easily- 
provoked ; it expresses the quality of being patient, 
the power of suffering or enduring calmly, or with 
equanimity of mind, any evil, as toil, pain, affliction, 
or provocation. 

The words "long-suffering" and "patience" are 
often used in reference to God, who is said to be 
"merciful and gracious, long-suffering;" "who endured 
with much long-suffering," and is "slow to wrath." 
Charnock says, " God's patience is the silence of his 
justice, and the first whispers of his mercy;" and 
"long-suffering is patience with duration." The hea- 
thens noticed this attribute of God, and expressed it 
by the proverb, that "the mills of the gods grind 
slowly." Their god Saturn, they said, "was bound a 
whole year with a soft woolen thread." This long- 
suffering is what the old divines used to call one of 



104 THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT. 

the " communicable attributes," because it may in a 
measure, and to a certain extent, be enjoyed by man, 
and illustrated in the Chris dan life among the fruits 
and graces of the Spirit, of which it is one not least 
in importance. 

This "anodyne of God's own preparation," as Cow- 
per calls it, is mixed up and interfused with all the 
graces and virtues of the true Christian character, 
and is in the New Testament alluded to in all the 
forms and phases of duty and experience. There can 
be no completeness in Christ, no possession of his 
nature, no abiding peace, no fullness of joy, no per- 
fect love, when this fruit of the Spirit is not growing; 
and just in proportion as love, joy and peace, fill and 
rule the soul, this grace will be seen to flourish also. 
The New Testament lays great emphasis on fruit-bear- 
ing Christians. John, the great revivalist, proclaimed 
with trumpet tongue, there must be either fruit or 
fire, — " fruits meet for repentance." Jesus taught 
that the pickax and the pruning-knife should prepare 
the fruitless tree or branch for the burning. He has 
not read the Book with profit who has not seen and 
felt the importance of having " fruit unto holiness." 
That this fruit of patience or long-suffering was held 
in very high estimate by the inspired writers is evi- 
dent from the following quotations, which are only a 
few of the many on record, teaching us to "bring 
forth fruit with patience," with ''long-suffering, for- 
bearing one another;" "by knowledge, by long-suffer- 
ing, by kindness;" being "strengthened to all long- 



.LONG-SUFFERING. 105 

suffering with joyfulness ; " "putting on meekness, 
long-suffering," and "bringing forth fruit with pa- 
tience," "for herein is the patience of the saints;" 
"in patience possessing your souls," "knowing that 
tribulation worketh patience and patience experience ; " 
"that in me Christ might show all long-suffering;" 
"that through patience and comfort we may have 
hope;" "remembering your patience of hope," that 
" we may glory in your patience," "for ye have need 
of patience," "that ye may run with patience," 
and "be patient toward all men;" "and let patience 
have her perfect work;" "as the husbandman who has 
long patience," "so be an example of patience;" "and 
by patient continuance in well doing," "show the pa- 
tience of the saints," " and be an example of patience;" 
"and add to temperance patience, and to patience 
godliness ;" " if when ye be buffeted for your faults, 
ye take it patiently ; and if ye do well and suffer for 
it, ye take it patiently," "for ye have heard of the 
patience of Job ; " " and the God of patience grant 
you to be like-minded." 

WHAT IS PATIENCE? 

A beautiful answer to this question was given by 
a little Scotch girl, when she was examined in Sab- 
bath-school : " Wait a wee, and dinna weary." Pa- 
tience is that grace which enables the child of God to 
bear afflictions, calamities, and temptations w r ith con- 
stancy and calmness of mind, and with a ready and 
cheerful submission to the will of God. (2 Tim. ii, 3.) 



106 THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT. 

It is that calm and unruffled temper with which a 
good man bears the evils of life. An eminent writer 
says, " Patience is apt to be ranked by many among 
the more humble and obscure virtues belonging 
chiefly to those who groan in the sick-room, or who 
languish in prison ; but in every circumstance of life, 
no virtue is more important, both to duty and happi- 
ness. It is not confined to a situation of continued 
adversity ; it principally, indeed, regards the disagree- 
able circumstances which are apt to occur ; but pros- 
perity can not be enjoyed, any more than adversity 
supported, without it. It must enter into the temper 
and form the habit of the soul, if we would pass 
through the world with tranquillity and honor." 

Patience is not a natural insensibility, so common 
among men who grow up like the sapling in the wood- 
land, coarse in their physical and mental structure, 
without culture or refinement. There are different 
degrees of insensibility in men, owing to their natural 
temperaments or to their physical and mental consti- 
tution or to their culture, so that the same event or 
circumstance may call forth a great exercise of pa- 
tience from one, when the other is entirely insensible 
to any such feeling. An unkind word, or a look of 
reproof would give pain to one, when upon another 
such word or look would have no effect whatever. 

Patience implies suffering. Now, if you inflict 
ever so many stripes upon the body of another, if he 
be not sensible of it, it is no pain to him ; he feels it 
not, he suffers not. Consequently, calmness in his 



LONG-SUFFERING. 107 

case is not patience ; it is natural hardness or insensi- 
bility. It is not stoicism, or an acquired insensibility. 
The Stoics taught that there was no evil, and by a 
kind of mental gymnastics they secured an amazing 
firmness in hours of suffering. By long continued 
training and discipline of body and mind, they proudly 
evinced an apathy and indifference to all feeling. This 
was not patience ; it was obstinacy. Patience is not an 
artificial insensibility, such as is produced by opiates, 
blunting the sharp edge of pain, or rendering the pa- 
tient entirely unconscious of suffering. Such is not 
patience. It is a kind of death ; it is stupidity. 

Christian patience is something different from all 
these. It is not a careless indolence, a stupid insensi- 
bility, a mechanical bravery, a constitutional fortitude, 
a daring stoutness of spirit, resulting from fatalism, 
philosophy, or pride; it is derived from the divine 
Spirit, nourished by heavenly truth, strengthened by 
divine grace, and ripened, matured, and exhibited on 
the branches of the Christian life among the rich 
fruits of the Holy Spirit. 

I can not do better here than give the words of 
the late Rev. W. Jay. He says : " Patience must be 
displayed under provocations. Our opinions, reputa- 
tion, connections, offices, and business render us widely 
vulnerable. The characters of men are various ; their 
pursuits and interests perpetually clash. Some try us 
by their folly ; some try us by their ignorance, some 
by their perverseness, some by their malice, some by 
their little jealousy and envy. Here there is an op- 



108 THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT. 

portunity for the triumph of patience. We are very 
susceptive of irritation. Anger is eloquent, and re- 
venge is sweet ; but to stand calm and collected ; to 
suspend the blow which passion was urgent to strike; 
to drive the reasons of clemency as far as they will 
go ; to bring forward fairly in view the circumstances 
of mitigation; to distinguish between surprise and de- 
liberation, infirmity and crime; or, if need be, to 
leave God to be both the judge and the executioner, — 
this is Christian patience." 

PEACE REQUIRES IT. 

People love to sting the passionate and the irrita- 
ble. They who are easily provoked commit their 
peace to the keeping of their enemies. They he 
down at their feet, and invite them to strike. The 
man of temper places himself beyond vexatious in- 
terruption. " He that hath no rule over his own 
spirit is like a city that is broken down and without 
walls," into which enter, over the ruins, serpents, 
vagrants, thieves, enemies; while the man who in 
patience, possesses his soul, has the command of him- 
self, places a defense all around him, and forbids the 
entrance of such unwelcome company to offend or 
discompose. 

WISDOM REQUIRES IT. 

' ' He that is slow to anger is of great understand- 
ing ; but he that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly." 
Wisdom gives us large; various, comprehensive views 



LONG-SUFFERING. 109 

of things. The very exercise operates as a diversion, 
affords the mind time to cool, and furnishes number- 
less circumstances tending to soften severity. 

DIGNITY REQUIRES IT. 

"It is the glory of a man to pass by a transgres- 
sion." The man provoked to revenge is conquered, 
and loses the glory of the struggle, while he who for- 
bears comes off victor, crowned with no common 
laurels. The dashing flood assails the firm rock, and 
rolls off from its base unable to make an impression, 
while boughs and straws are borne off in triumph, 
carried down the stream, driven and tossed. A man 
whose character and feelings had been injured by an- 
other came one day to his friend Dr. , and told 

him all that had been said and done, and asked ad« 

vice : ' { Dr. , is it not manly to resent it ?" 

"Yes," said the Doctor, "it is manly to resent it, 
but it is godlike to forgive it." 

Patience is a valuable preservative against sur- 
rounding ills. As the eyelid is made to open and 
shut to save the eye, so patience is set to keep the 
soul and save the heart whole to cheer the body 
again. Therefore, if you mark the occasion when 
you can pass by an offense and endure the wrong for 
Christ's sake, and suffer trouble quietly in the spirit 
of endurance, you have won a victory which, of 
itself, fills you with comfort ; and the more your pa- 
tience is under that trial, the less your pain. A light 
burden carried at arm's-length feels much heavier 



110 THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT. 

than a burden three times heavier which is carried 
upon the shoulder. If you call upon Impatience to 
bear a cross, there will be much murmuring and 
grumbling and shrugging of the shoulders; and if 
borne at all, it will likely be left by the wayside or 
in the ditch. But if you call upon Patience to carry 
it, she, like the cheerful spies that carried the cluster 
of grapes all the way from Eshcol, cries out, It is 
nothing. Any duty to Patience is nothing. It is 
nothing to bear trial ; it is nothing to endure ; it is 
nothing to fast, nothing to watch, nothing to labor 
and pray; it is nothing to be envied, and ill-used, 
and slandered, and imprisoned. In all these things 
we are more than conquerors. 

"Angel of patience, sent, to calm 

Our feverish brows with cooling palm; 
To lay the storms of hope and fear, 
And reconcile life's smile and tear; 
The throbs of wounded pride to still, 
And make our own our Father's will, — 
O, thou who mournest on thy way, 
With longings for the close of day, 
He walks with thee — that angel kind — 
And gently whispers, ' Be resigned.' 
Bear up, bear on ! the end shall tell 
The dear Lord ordereth all things well." 

An American writer says : " There is no such 
thing as preaching patience into people unless the 
sermon is so long and so dry that they have to prac- 
tice patience while they hear." No man can learn 
patience in the quiet study, or in the calm, cool, 
quiet summer-house, on a beautiful lawn. You must 



LONG-SUFFERING. Ill 



t- 



go out into the hurly-burly, bustle, and strife of the 
■world; must come into contact with men and tilings 
as they are in the great marts of commerce and trade. 
Patience is lying to, and riding out the gale. 

Patience is of two kinds. There is an active and 
there is a passive endurance. The former is a mas- 
culine virtue ; the latter is, for the most part, spoken 
of as a feminine virtue. Patience in woman is ex- 
hibited chiefly in fortitude, in bearing pain and sorrow 
meekly and without complaining. In the old Hebrew 
life and times, endurance of this kind shines almost as 
brightly as in any life which Christianity itself can 
mold. Hannah, under the provocations and taunts of 
a successful rival, answering not again her husband's 
rebuke, humbly and meekly replying in self-defense to 
Eli's unjust blame, is a noble example of womanly 
endurance. For the best type of man's endurance 
you may look to the patience of the early Christians 
under persecution. They came away from the San- 
hedrim to endure and to bear with patience. It was 
to bear as conquerors rushing on to certain victory ; 
to endure as seeing Him who is invisible ; to endure 
hardness, and even death, as good soldiers ; while, in 
all their trials and afflictions, they preached the Word 
with all boldness, defying the power of the united 
Romans and Jews to silence them. 

These two divers qualities are joined in Jesus, the 
only one of earthly birth in whom we find a model 
of both the active and passive forms of endurance. In 
him alone human nature was exhibited in all its ele- 



112 THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT. 

ments symmetrically complete. In him and in his 
wondrous life we see combined all the perfection of 
that which was most renowned and pure in the fem- 
inine virtues, and all the most noble and manly in 
the active virtues. His power of endurance in pain 
and grief by far exceeds any thing that we have else- 
where in the history of our race, and stands out 
unparalleled in the whole history of man. There was 
in him the tender spirit dissolving into tears at the 
coming woe of Jerusalem and at the grave of a friend ; 
but when his own dark hour came he met it, not with 
the stern defiance of the man and the Stoic, but with 
the gentleness and trust and love and shrinking of a 
woman. When, however, he came into Pilate's judg- 
ment hall, where he met the hollow mockeries of 
Herod's men of war; and in his sharp discussion with 
the Pharisees and his withering exposure of their 
falsehoods, by which the bonds of social, domestic, and 
religious life were loosened, the feminine disappears, 
and the firm resolution of the man with more than 
manly dignity is found in its stead. This is an ex- 
ample of the patience which we are to cultivate and 
exhibit in our daily life. 

God has put great honor upon this trait of char- 
acter. It is a ripe fruit, containing rare medicinal 
properties, furnishing a wonderful relief for all earthly 
woes, for all diseases of the body or the mind. So 
we find when the angel had recorded a long list of 
the trials and troubles which should come to pass in 
"the latter days," he closes by saying, "Here is the 



LONG-SUFFERING. 113 

patience of the saints," as if he had said, A saint's 
patience should endure all things; they have a long 
time to wait for the final consummation of all those 
things spoken of in the previous chapter. The forty 
and two months are twelve hundred vears — a lono- 
time to wait, but the saints will be patient. 

We have many remarkable allusions in the Sciip- 
ture to this precious fruit. It says: " In your patience 
possess ye your souls," as though a man without 
patience would lose control of himself. So we are 
informed that "a man's wisdom is known by his pa- 
tience," as though a man without patience could not 
be a wise man. We are also assured that "by patience 
we inherit the promises," as if the promises could 
not be realized by us if we are destitute of patience. 
So it is said ' ' patience worketh [produces] experience 
and experience hope," as if he who was lacking in 
patience has no experience of God and little hope of 
his divine consolations. 

We are commanded to "bring forth fruit with 
patience." The first-fruit clusters are not sufficient, 
and patience must be exercised to mature others more 
perfect. We are to follow after righteousness, godli- 
ness, faith, love, patience. "For ye have need of 
patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye 
might receive the joromise." We must cheerfully do 
and patiently endure. "The trying of your faith 
worketh patience;" "let us run with patience;" "and 
let patience have her perfect work;" "rejoicing in 
hope, patient in tribulation." "But if, when ye do 

8 



114 THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT. 

well and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is 
acceptable to God." 

The Church of God never prospers so well as when 
in tribulation and in tears her patience is tried. The 
smiles of the world wither her best fruits. God's vine 
thrives all the better for timely pruning. The skill 
of the pilot is best seen in the storm. The valor of 
the soldier is not seen in the drill-room, nor in the 
sham fight, nor in the public review, but in the smoke 
of battle and the heat of conflict. So our Christian 
graces are tested in time of severest trials. Our pa- 
tience is to be so exercised and devoloped as to bear 
trials without murmuring; to endure so as not to 
despair of deliverance, even when deliverance is to 
all human appearance impossible. Patience will en- 
able us to remember by whose permission trials come, 
for what good end they are so permitted, and how we 
may so endure and use them as to glorify God. We 
shall also be able to comfort ourselves and others by 
the thought that trial and persecution have been the 
lot of Christ's followers in every age of the world. 

The advantages of patience may be seen in the 
discovery of our own weakness and infirmity, the 
improvement of all our graces in the cultivation of 
this one, and the development in us of a larger meas- 
ure of the fruits of holiness. Thus God gives grace 
in the whole pathway of duty and of prosperity, and 
he tries the strength of our graces in the day of 
affliction. We are chastened of the Lord that we 
should not be condemned with the world. By this 



LONG-SUFFERING. 115 

means God separates the sin that he hates from the 
souls that he loves. 

NOBLE EXAMPLES. 

Would we follow the example of the illustrious 
who have gone on before we must cultivate this grace 
of patience. See Joseph ; how many provocations had 
he received from his brethren, and yet he scarcely 
mentions their crimes, so eager was he to proclaim 
their pardon. David says, "They rewarded me evil 
for good; but as for me, when they were sick, my 
clothing was sackcloth." Stephen, dying under a 
shower of stones, with scarce strength enough to kneel, 
prays for his enemies, "Lord, lay not this sin to their 
charge." When Jesus endured the cross for us every 
thing conspired to render the provocation heinous. 
The nature of the offense, the meanness of the charges, 
the obligation of the offenders, the righteousness of 
his cause, the grandeur of his person, all seemed to 
call for vengeance. His creatures all seemed eager to 
punish: Peter drew his sword, the sun refused to shine 
on such criminals any longer, the rocks asked to crush 
them, the earth trembled under the sinful load, the 
very dead arose as if to avenge his wrongs. He suf- 
fered all to testify their sympathy, but forbade their 
revenge, and so patient was he, that lest the Judge 
of all should pour out his fury upon them, he cried, 
"Father forgive them, for they know not what 
they do." 

Chrysostom gives us a fine illustration. When 



116 THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT. 

unjustly banished and uncertain as to what his fate 
might be, he said, "I am not moved; if the queen 
will banish me, I will think of John on the Isle of 
Patmos; if she will saw me asunder, I will think of 
Isaiah; if she cast me into the sea, I will remember 
Jonah; if into the fiery furnace, I will remember the 
three Hebrew children; if I am thrown to the wild 
beasts, I will think of Daniel; and if she shall stone 
me with stones, I will think of Stephen ; if she behead 
me, I will think of John the Baptist; or, if she de- 
prive me of my all, I have nothing but what I have 
received." 

The noble Basil, concerning patience under injury, 
once said, "Has any one permitted himself to make 
use of injurious expressions respecting you? Reply to 
him by blessings. Does he treat you ill? Be patient. 
Does he reproach you? Is the reproach just? If it 
be, condemn yourself; if not, it is but a breath of air. 
Flattery could not really impart a merit to you if you 
have it not; nor calumny give you faults that you do 
not actually possess. Does he tax you with igno- 
rance? In showing yourself angry, you justify the 
charge. Does he persecute you? Think of Jesus 
Christ. Can you ever suffer as he has suffered?" 

Rev. Matthew Poole, a celebrated commentator, 
whom the writer has the honor of reckoning among 
his ancestors, spent sixteen years in compiling the 
immense work known as the "Synopsis Criticorum;" 
during which time he rose every morning at five, and 
never dined out once. Having at length finished the 



LONG-SUFFERING. 117 

work, he went out to enjoy a little rest with a friend, 
when his wife, in a fit of had temper, destroyed the 
manuscripts. On his return, grieved as he was, lie 
simply said, "My dear, thou hast done very wrong;" 
and next morning he rose at four to recommence his 
labor, and never relaxed it till the task was finished 
the second time. We might well say of him, 

"Like some well-fashioned arch his patience stood, 
And purchased strength from each increasing load." 

Tertullian, a celebrated father in the primitive 
Church, thus writes: "God is a perfect pattern of 
patience. If you suffer any wrong, he is the avenger ; 
if any loss, he is the restorer ; if any pain, he is the 
physician; if death, he is the resurrection to life. 
Patience guards faith, preserves peace, cherishes love, 
teaches humility, waits for repentance, signs a cov- 
enant, governs the flesh, strengthens the spirit, sweet- 
ens the temper, stifles anger, extinguishes envy, sub- 
dues pride. She restrains the tongue, refrains the 
hand, tramples upon temptations, endures persecu- 
tions, and rejoices in martyrdom. Patience pro- 
duces unity in the Church, loyalty in the nation, 
peace in families and communities. She comforts the 
poor, gives temperance to the rich, makes us humble 
in prosperity, cheerful in adversity, calm and un- 
moved by calumny and reproach. She teaches us to 
forgive those who have injured us, and to be first in 
asking forgiveness of those we have injured. She 
charms the faithful, invites the alien, commends the 



118 THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT. 

servant to his master and the master to the servant, 
and both to God. She adorns the woman, beautifies 
the man ; is loved in a child, praised in a young per- 
son, and admired in an old one ; in each sex and in 
every age she is beautiful. Behold her appearance 
and her attire : her countenance is calm and serene 
as the face of heaven, unspotted by the shadow of a 
cloud ; her forehead smooth, contracted with no 
wrinkles of grief and passion ; her eyes are as the 
eyes of doves for meekness, and on her eybrows sit 
cheerfulness and joy ; her mouth is marked with the 
loveliness of silence ; her complexion and color are 
such as adorn the innocent and secure ; while, like 
the virgin daughter of Zion, she constantly shakes 
her head at the adversary, despising and laughing 
him to scorn. She is clothed in the robes of the 
martyrs, and in her hand she holds a scepter in the 
form of a cross. She rides not on the whirlwind and 
stormy tempest of passion; but her throne is the 
humble and sincere heart, and her kingdom is the 
kingdom of peace. A soft serenity of countenance is 
hers, open and clear and bright, like him whom Elias 
saw on the mountain of transfiguration. Where God 
is, there patience, his nursing child, is visible. Where 
his Spirit descends, patience, his inseparable compan- 
ion, attends him. If we are one with the Spirit, she 
will abide with us forever." 

" Sweet patience, come ! 
Not from a low and earthly source, 
Waiting till things shall have their course; 



LONG-SUFFERING. 119 

Not as accepting present pain, 
In hope of some hereafter gain ; 
Not in a dull and sullen calm ; 
But as the breath of heavenly balm, 
Bidding my weary heart submit 
To bear whatever God sees fit, — 
Sweet patience, come !" 

Pray and stay are two blessed monosyllables. 
Never think that God's delays are God's denials. 
Hold on. If you have a promise, hold it fast; be 
firm. Hold out to the end. Patience is genius; 
patience is power. With time and patience the mul- 
berry-tree becomes satin. Patience is a plaster for 
all kinds of sores. The longest day will have an end. 
When one door shuts, another opens. It is a sore 
battle where none escapes. Patience and time over- 
come every thing but sin. The world is his who has 
patience. He who does not tire, tires adversity and 
wins the day. A stout heart breaks ill-luck. If I 
have lost the ring, here are the fingers still. The 
remedy for hard times is to pray, trust, and have 
patience. All comes right to him who can wait. 



120 THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT. 



V. G^ei|tlei)e^. 

Speak gently ! 'Tis a little thing 
Dropped in the heart's deep well ; 

The good, the joy that it shall bring, 
Eternity shall tell. 

f^\ ENTLENESS is, in a general sense, defined to 
\~a be "the quality of being well-born, of good ex- 
traction." Gentility and gentleness are the same, and 
mean genteel accomplishments, softness of manner, 
sweetness of disposition, kindness, meekness, benev- 
olence. The word the apostle used in naming the 
rich cluster of graces is chr estates, and signifies useful- 
ness, utility, benignity, gentleness, clemency, goodness, 
worthiness, innocency, purity. 

The terms gentleness, mildness, softness, are syn- 
onymous, and are used both in a physical and a moral 
sense. It is only in a moral sense that we have to do 
with the word as descriptive of the "Fruit of the 
Spirit." 

Gentleness, in morals, is a quality of the mind 
opposed to rudeness, roughness, fierceness, wildness, 
moroseness, austerity, and is applied to the temper, 
disposition, or behavior. 

Gentleness is love in society; it is love holding 
intercourse with those around it. It is that cordiality 



GENTLENESS. 121 

of aspect and that soul of speeck which assure us 
that kind and earnest hearts may still be met with 
here below. It is that quiet influence which, like the 
scented flame of an alabaster lamp, fills at the same 
time many a home with light and warmth and fra- 
grance. It is the carpet, soft and deep, which, whilst 
it diffuses a look of ample comfort, deadens many a 
creaking sound. It is the curtain which, from many 
a beloved form, wards off both the Summer's glow 
and the Winter's wind. It is the pillow on which 
sickness lays its head and forgets half its misery, and 
to which death comes in a balmier dream. It is con- 
siderateness. It is tenderness of feeling. It is warmth 
of affection. It is promptitude of sympathy. It is 
love in all its depths and all its delicacy. It is every 
thing included in that matchless grace — the gentleness 
of Christ. 

There is but little said or written on this virtue or 
grace of the Christian character ; and yet it has much 
to do in forming the character of the true Christian, 
and in recommending the religion of Christ by the 
power of example to those who have it not. That 
gentle lady and that gentle lord who have consecrated 
their all to God, through Jesus Christ, and are rich 
in all the graces of the Spirit, possessing love, joy, 
peace, long-suffering, gentleness, etc., and exemplify 
those graces in Christian activities, bring in large 
harvests of credit and honor to the cause of God by 
their amiability of character, their sweetness of dispo- 
sition, and their gentleness of spirit; and they are 



122 THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT. 

very unlike those whose behavior, temper, and dispo- 
sition show an entire want of those finer finishing 
touches that complete the picture of true godliness. 
How unseemly a thing it is to see an old scholar of 
twenty years' standing in school learning the first prin- 
ciples with those pupils who entered yesterday. And 
equally unbecoming is it to find old disciples of Christ 
"ever learning and never able to come to the knowl- 
edge of the truth," and possessing a sourness of temper, 
an austerity of manner, and a roughness of disposition 
which indicate that they have not yet escaped from 
the thralldom of a deeply depraved human nature. 

Paul said to the Church at Thessalonica, "We 
were gentle among you, even as a nurse," — literally 
as a mother. Again he said to Timothy, ' ' The ser- 
vant of the Lord must be gentle ; " and to Titus he 
said, "Put them in mind, to be no brawlers, but gen- 
tle, showing all meekness unto all men." David said, 
"Thy gentleness hath made me great." In these pas- 
sages we are taught to cultivate that disposition which 
enables us to bear the infirmities of others, to forgive 
injuries, to interpret all things for the best, to put the 
best construction on things, and as far as possible ac- 
commodate ourselves even to those who have wronged 
us. Dr. A. Clarke says, "It is a very rare grace, 
often wanting in many who have a considerable share 
of Christian excellence." 

A good education and polished manners, when 
brought under the influence of the sanctifying grace 
of God, will bring out this grace with great promi- 



GENTLENESS. 123 

nence. In many cases where natural and acquired 
advantages are entirely wanting, persons are found, 
under the gracious baptism of the divine Spirit, mak- 
ing rapid progress in the school of Christ. Early 
learning self-denial and self-control, they, in entire 
•submission to the will of God, practice the higher vir- 
tues and graces, until they are put into possession of 
the "mind of Christ," and can say, 

"Anger I no more shall feel, 
Always even, always still, 
Meekly on my God reclined, — 
Jesus' is a gentle mind." 

This gentleness is to be clearly distinguished from 
that natural tameness of mind, or flexibility of char- 
acter, which leads the young and inexperienced into 
an almost unlimited compliance with the maxims, 
habits, customs, and fashions of the world. In this 
India-rubber age, we have a great deal of trouble 
with the elastic principles professed by the true-born 
sons of Mr. Pliable. They are the time-servers of 
the age. Poor men, they inherit all their father's 
weakness, are far too pliable to retain an unbroken 
peace, abiding joy, perfect love, or a whole conscience! 
The fact is, they are too elastic. With them it is all 
elasticity, and no stability ; all accommodation and no 
firmness ; all pliability and no abiding principle. Such 
men are like our weather-vanes, which always shape 
their course as the wind blows, driven about, says 
Paul, "with every wind of doctrine." "Unstable as 
water, they can not excel." 



124 THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT. 

That passive tameness of spirit which submits 
without a struggle to every encroachment of the 
enemy, and yields with complaisance to the opinions 
and manners of others, so far from being a virtue, is 
itself a vice and the parent of many vices. It is, in- 
deed, at war with all virtue. It overthrows all sound 
principle, and produces that sinful conformity which 
vitiates the whole character, and robs the man of 
every vestige of true godliness. The spirit which 
turns an ear to every call the world may make, and 
yields a sure, though tardy compliance with the se- 
ductions of the flesh, is a mean spirit found only in 
the heart of real cowards and true sycophants. To 
all the allurements of the world, the flesh, and the 
devil, the true gentleman, or the man of true gentle- 
ness, will say No! with such an emphasis that the 
stoutest tempter will quail in its echo. The man of 
true gentleness is as firm as the rock out on yonder 
craggy cliff, where old ocean has tried its thundering 
batteries for ages, and all in vain. Gentleness is un- 
yielding and immovable as the rock, yet courteous and 
kind. It stands firm to truth, renounces no principle 
from fear or from favor. Neither flattery nor fear 
can move it from the well-known path of duty. It 
stands opposed to harshness, and to pride and arro-' 
gance; to violence and oppression on the one hand, 
and to the brainless policy of the time-server on the 
other hand. It removes the roughness of untutored 
nature, polishes the mind and the manners, refines 
the taste, sweetens the temper, and makes the man 



GENTLENESS. 125 

unwilling to give pain to any of the common brother- 
hood of mankind. Compassion prompts us to relieve 
the wants of the brethren, forbearance prevents us 
from retaliating their injuries, clemency disposes us 
to forgive their wrongs, meekness restrains our angry 
passions, candor tempers our severe judgments; but 
gentleness corrects whatever is offensive in our man- 
ner, and by a constant train of benevolent attentions 
studies to alleviate the burden of common misery. 

If love, joy, and peace, are plants of heavenly 
origin, exotics brought from a far country, having a 
divine origin, the next three graces, namely, long-suf- 
fering, gentleness, and goodness, may be said to be 
home products, the growth of the new nature in the 
garden of the heart, planted by the Holy Spirit, 
watched over by the eye of vigilance, warmed by the 
Sun of righteousness, and cared for and cultivated by 
the constant exercise of the new-born powers. 

The first named three are especially ascribed to God. 
Love is called " the love of God shed abroad in the 
heart." Joy is called " the joy of the Lord." Peace 
is called "the peace of God;" but patience and gentle- 
ness are nowhere spoken of as the patience and gentle- 
eness of God in the same sense. These latter fruits are 
the results of the operation of the Spirit developed in a 
life of watchfulness and diligence. The first three are 
the fruits of the Spirit, usually bestowed instantane- 
ously when the assurance is given that we are children 
of God. The others are the fruits of the Spirit requir- 
ing time and cultivation for their proper development. 



L26 THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT. 

In the production of this fruit patieilt culture is 
necessary. Some plants require more tlian ordinary 
care to their growth and development. 'That rare 

must, be in proportion to the difficulties arising from 

Soil and climate, locality and surroundings, as well as 

the dangers arising from destructive insects and noxious 

vermin. Our own happiness will he greatly promoted 
by its cultivation, the peace of home and of the 
Church greatly enhanced, and the name of Christ, 
glorified. [f yOU would be useful tO mankind, then 
always, hy all means, cultivate true j-viil lencss of 
spirit. 

In the family it. is gentleness that is especially 
needed. Any amount, of restraint or discipline may 

be endured so long as it. is made apparent to the 

child that, the will oi' the parent is not. prompted by 
angry feeling. Restraint and firmness there must al 
ways be in the guidance oi' the inexperienced mind; 
but if the father finds that his reproofs and his disci- 
pline produce angry frowns and fierce retorts, let biro 

ask himself, " Am I not angry too? Has not. the 

mind of my own disturbed soul thus tossed the frail 

and movable soul oi' my child? Am I gentle as 

God is gentle?" If discipline oomes from a gentle, 

loving disposition, the anger oi' i\\c child is sure to be 
short lived, and in calmer moments he will acknowl 
edge it. Happy the parent whose child can say, "Thy 

gentleness bath made me great." 

Wishing to seal a letter, Gotthold ealled for ;\ 
lighted Candle. The maul obeyed bis orders, but pro- 



eeeding too hastily, the flame, whirl, had oof pel 

red sufficienl str< ogth, wont out. ; - Here, 1 
Gotthold, " wo have that which may well remind tu 
of the geutlen( and moderation to bo observed in 
oar comportment towards weak and erring brethren. 
Had this candle, when first lighted, been carried 
slowly, and shaded by the hand from the air, it would 
not have been extinguished, but would Boon have 

burned with vigor. In like manner, many a weak 

brother mighl be net right, if wo only came to his 

help in the righl way and with kindly advice." 

By invincible, self-controlling gentleness, the mother 
in last wins back to virtue the lighter whom 

no threats HO storms and upbraiding 

of passion, could subdue. Geologists oil us that the 
calm and silent influence of the atmosphere is a power 
mightier than all the more noisy influences of nature. 

Rockg and mountains are worn down and subdued by 

that silent influence. 

Speak gently i it is better far 
To rule by love than fearj 
Speak gently— lei net harsh words mar 

'l'ht; good ui; might do here. 

Bpeak gently : Love doth whisper low, 

The rows that true heai In hind ; 
And gentty frieudMhip's accents flow — 

Affection's roioe i-. kind. 

Sneak gently to the tittle child, 

1 1 k love he Kiire to win ; 
Teach it in accents soft and mild — 

It may not Ion;; remain. 



128 THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT. 

Speak gently to the young, for they 

Will have enough to bear; 
Pass through this world as best they may, 

'T is full of anxious care. 

Speak gently, kindly, to the poor, 
Let no harsh tone be heard ; 

They have enough they must endure, 
Without an unkind word. 

Speak kindly to the erring — know 
They may have toiled in vain ; 

Perchance unkindness made them so — 
O, win them back again. 

Speak gently to the erring ones ; 

Thou yet may'st lead them back 
With holy words, and tones of love, 

From misery's thorny track. 

Forget not thou hast often sinned, 

And feeble yet must be; 
Deal gently with the erring one, 

As God hath dealt with thee.' 



GOODNESS. 129 



VI. Gcoodqe^. 

"Goodness is beauty in its best estate." 

" She taught us how to live, 
Willi blameless life girt round with sanctity, 
Lowly in heart, in soul and purpose high. 

Sweet lessons did she give 
Of faith, of love, of hope; for all that shone 
Brightest in Christian lives, she made her own." 

THE word "good" under different forms, runs 
through all the languages of Northern Europe, and 
has a great affinity with the Greek agathos or getheo, 
and the Latin gaudeo, "to rejoice, to be glad," because 
joy or gladness is derived from that which is good. 

Good and goodness are abstract terms, drawn from 
the same word ; the former, to denote things that are 
good; the latter, the inherent good property of a 
thing. The good we do is determined by the tendency 
of the action ; but our goodness in doing it is deter- 
mined by the motives that prompt those actions. 
Good is of a twofold nature, physical and moral, and 
is always opposed to evil. Goodness is applicable 
either to the dispositions of moral and accountable 
beings, or the qualities of inanimate objects. 

As a fruit of the Holy Spirit it means that qual- 
ity of mind and heart which shows itself in a readi- 

9 



130 THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT. 

ness to do good to all, as we have an opportunity. 
Dr. A. Clarke says, "It is the perpetual desire and 
sincere study, not only to abstain from every appear- 
ance of evil, but to do good to the bodies and souls 
of men to the uttermost of our ability. But all this," 
he continues, " must come from a good heart — a heart 
purified by the Spirit of God; and then, the tree be- 
ing made good, the fruit must be good also." Wes- 
ley says the Greek word here means "all that is be- 
nign, soft, winning, and tender, either in temper or 
behavior." 

In Eph. v, 9, it is said, "The fruit of the Spirit 
is in all goodness ; " that is, goodness in principle and 
in practice, in heart and life. All goodness comes 
from God, who is originally, absolutely, essentially, 
infinitely, and immutably good, the chief good from 
whom all goodness in others is derived. All created 
goodness is but a rivulet from this fountain of good, 
and God's goodness is the measure and rule of goodness 
in every thing else. 

"To be good is to be happy. Angels are happier 
than men, because they are better." If men were 
better than they are, they, too, would be happier. 
There are thousands in the Church to-day who are 
not happy. They are not active enough to be happy. 
If they would only go out in the walks and ways of 
goodness, and work for Jesus in some way, doing good 
to the poor, the ignorant, the needy, the sorrowful, 
they would, while doing good, greatly promote their 
own happiness. The command, "Son, go work to- 



GOODNESS. 131 

day in my vineyard," if cheerfully obeyed, would 
make many a son happy. Do n't sit still any longer, 
freezing with cold and dying with discontent. Up, 
and do good to some of the millions around you ! and 
while doing good, you will get good. 

Goodness is love in action, love with its hand at 
the plow, love with the burden on its back. It is 
love carrying medicine to the sick and food to the 
famished. It is love reading the Bible to the blind, 
or to the ignorant, or to the sick, and explaining the 
Gospel to the felon in his cell. It is love at the 
Sunday-class, or in the ragged school, or out on the 
street inviting the wandering home to Jesus. It is 
love at the hovel door, or sailing far away in the 
missionary ship. But whatever task it undertakes, it 
is still the same love following His footsteps who went 
about doing good. True goodness is like the glow- 
worm in this, that it shines most when no eyes, except 
those of heaven, are upon it. 

The goodness of many men is by far too super- 
ficial. They are like some of our mineral productions, 
which, when held up before the light, are translucent 
only on their edges. They are dark in the center; 
such are marble, flint, and hornstone. So the light 
of Christianity has shone upon them, and modified 
much of their external conduct, and produced some 
regard for piety ; but at the center of their being, in 
their heart, the darkness of sin remains. 

Goodness in its very nature implies activity and 
usefulness. It can not exist alone and for itself. Upon 



132 THE FEUIT OF THE SPIRIT. 

a cold Winter's day the mill-pond and bay may be all 
frozen over — a mass of solid ice — but the little stream- 
let yonder is leaping and sparkling as merrily as in 
midsummer. It is exposed to the same temperature as 
the bay or the mill-pond, and why does it not congeal 
and freeze up? All around is cold; nothing but frost 
and snow about it; yet it never freezes — it is too 
active to freeze, too busy to be cold. 

An Alpine traveler was overtaken by a snow storm 
at the top of a mountain; the snow-flakes filled the 
air, and piercing winds rapidly hid his pathway, from 
his view. Night came. He lost his way. The pierc- 
ing cold chilled his blood, and despair his very heart. 
For a time he struggled on, until bewildered, discour- 
aged, and exhausted, his stiffened limbs refused to 
move, a heavy drowsiness began to creep over him, 
and he sank down to give way to the fatal sleep. 
The last thought was of home and kindred, and in a 
half-uttered prayer he commended his soul to the 
Eedeemer. Just at that moment he saw another trav- 
eler falling in the same pathway, and in greater peril, 
if possible, than himself. The call of distress roused 
him from the death-stupor; his sympathies were ex- 
cited; he made a great effort to help the poor man; 
crawled over to him, for he could not walk. He took 
the traveler's hands into his own, and tried to rub 
them. He chafed his temples, rubbed his feet, spoke 
cheerful words, encouraged him yet to hope, and, 
while using the means, saw him begin to recover. 
The heart grew warm, and the pulse began to throb. 



GOODNESS. 133 

He saved the man's life. That is not all — in putting 
forth efforts to rouse and animate another, his activity 
kept himself from freezing. He saved his neighbor 
from death, and was saved himself by the same act. 
They two struggled on together, and reached their 
homes in safety. Christians should be too active to 
freeze. Activity in doing good will keep the heart 
all aglow; our action will keep us warm, and our 
example will keep others warm. We should be too 
active to grow cold. We should be like Cromwell, 
" Who not only struck ivhile the iron was hot, but made 
it hot by sticking." 0, if there be any happiness on 
earth, it is in doing good for God. To be healthy, 
to be happy, to be useful, we must not forget to 
do good. 

"Howe'er it be, it seems to me, 
'Tis only noble to be good." 



134 THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT. 



VII. tsit^ 

. "Faith lends its realizing light; 

The clouds disperse, the shadows fly; 
The' Invisible appears in fight, 
And God is seen by mortal eye." 

IN regard to the meaning and application of the 
word faith, there is a great difference of opinion. 
On that account I may, perhaps, be excused if I am 
minute in giving the origin of the word and its shades 
of meaning. The term the apostle used is pistis, which 
means faith, belief, trust, confidence, credit; and it 
comes from peitho, to persuade — the nature of faith 
being a persuasion or assent of the mind, arising from 
testimony or evidence. 

Belief comes from the German belieben, " to 
please," or from the Latin libet, " it pleaseth," signi- 
fying the pleasure or assent of the mind. Trust 
comes from the Greek tharrein, " to have confidence, 
consolation, comfort ;" or from the Saxon troivian, or 
the German trauen or thruen, ''to hold true, to trust 
as true." Credit comes from the Latin credo, which 
word comes from cor, " the heart," and do, " to give," 
and means "to give the heart." The word faith 
comes from the Latin fides, from fido, " to confide, to 
trust together." In the Anglo-Saxon, it is foegan, to 



FAITH. 135 

join, to covenant, to engage," because he who has 
faith in God is joined to him, is in covenant with him. 

Belief is a generic term ; the others are specific. 
We believe when we credit and trust; but we may 
credit and trust without belief. Belief rests on no 
particular person or thing; but credit and trust rest 
on the authority of one or more. 

A doctrine to which we assent is the subject of 
belief. We credit the historian, we trust our friends, 
we have faith in each other. The power of persons 
and the virtue of things are objects of faith. Belief 
and credit are particular actions or sentiments of the 
mind. Trust and faith are permanent dispositions of 
the mind. Things are entitled to our belief, persons 
to our credence; but w r e repose a trust, and have 
faith in the divine promise. We believe a fact, we 
trust a person. 

Belief is simply an act of the understanding. 
Trust and faith are active moving principles of the 
mind, in which the heart is concerned. Belief does 
not extend beyond an assent to a given doctrine. 
Trust and faith are lively sentiments, which prompt 
to action. Belief is to trust and faith as an antece- 
dent condition to a result. We may have belief with- 
out either trust or faith; but there can be no trust 
or faith without belief. Belief is purely intellectual ; 
trust and faith are operative. 

This faith consists in three things, — the assent of 
the judgment, the consent of the will, and the reliance 
of the heart. These constitute saving faith. Wesley 



136 THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT. 

says: "Justifying faith implies not only a divine evi- 
dence or conviction that God was in Christ reconcil- 
ing the world unto himself, but a sure trust and con- 
fidence that Christ died for my sins ; that he loved me^ 
and gave himself for me." Again he says : " It is not 
barely a speculative, rational thing, a cold, lifeless 
assent, a train of ideas in the head, but also a dispo- 
sition in the heart." Again : " It is a sure confidence 
which a man hath in God that, through the merits 
of Christ, his sins are forgiven, and he is reconciled 
to the favor of God; and in consequence hereof a 
closing with him and cleaving to him as our Wisdom, 
Righteousness, feanctification, and Redemption; or, 
in one word, our Salvation." "With the heart man 
belie veth unto righteousness." (Paul.) And, "If 
thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, 
and shalt believe with thy heart." 

Here is the distinction between historic, tempo- 
rary, and dead faith and that which is living and 
active. One is the belief or the assent of the intel- 
lect, the other of the intellect and of the heart. One 
is a cold speculation, the other a hearty approbation, 
a realization. Paul says again: "Now faith is the 
substance of [rather, confidence concerning] things 
hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." It gives 
reality, assurance to things not yet seen ; so that they 
are treated as veritably present. It makes invisible 
things visible, absent things present, things that are 
very far off to be very near unto the soul. 

Watson says : "It includes three distinct acts— 



FAITH. 137 

self-renunciation, appropriation, recumbency, or reli- 
ance." Faith is not a notion, a sentiment, a sense, 
an emotion. It is not sight, nor reason ; it is taking 
God at his word. " It is putting confidence in God's 
testimony." "It is a saving grace, whereby we re- 
ceive, and rest upon him alone for salvation as he is 
offered to us in the Gospel." 

A man's mere beliefs leave him dark and gloomy, 
even in the blaze of Gospel day ; but faith is the sun 
of life. Her countenance, when turned to Jesus, 
shines like that of the prophet Moses, and it illumi- 
nates his whole soul, scattering his gloom, pouring a 
flood of light into his heart and over his pathway. 
His beliefs leave him cold and dead to every good 
word and work ; but faith warms his frozen affections, 
and quickens his dormant energies into new and 
happy life. His beliefs send him a poor, pitiful wan- 
derer in a dark and stormy night; but faith is a 
subtle, invisible chain that binds him to the Infinite, 
and leads him, white-robed, to the realm of eternal 
day. His beliefs leave him a weak, helpless, hapless 
child of grief, the sport of the tempter, the slave of 
passion and of sin ; but faith lifts him from the mire, 
invests him with conquering power. This faith is the 
great instrument by which we obtain religious knowl- 
edge. The child entering school can make no prog- 
ress in the study of science even, unless faith be in 
constant and lively exercise. Without faith the door 
of science is barred and bolted against him. The 
teacher gives him the names, signs, and symbols of 



138 THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT. 

things, and assures him that, by general consent, A 
is called A, and X is called X. He does not prove 
that it is so; the learner must take it on trust, or he 
can make no progress. He relies upon the word of 
his teacher. So with the man who would make 
progress in the school of Christ. Without heart- 
reliance on Jesus, he may hear sermons and read 
books during a long life-time, and still be ignorant 
of the first principles of the Gospel of Christ. Unless 
faith lends the realizing light, all is gloom and dark- 
ness. "The world by wisdom knew not God." 

This faith connects us personally and immediately 
to all the blessings of the atonement. A man may 
hear and read and reason and examine and weep 
and reform, and attend to ordinances and ritualistic 
observances, and go the round of duty for years, and 
be still cold, dead, alien, sinful, condemned ; but the 
moment he trusts in Christ, relies, believes, he is per- 
sonally linked by more than a golden clasp to a rec- 
onciled God. 

This faith unites the believer to the omnipotency 
of divine grace. The idea of trust in another sup- 
poses our own insufficiency and weakness. "We may 
boast of our physical or intellectual greatness ; but 
facts prove that we are morally weak — weak to resist 
wrong, or to do right; weak to battle for Jesus, or 
to hold up his banners. It is only by faith that we 
can say, " I can do all things through Christ, who 
strengtheneth me." This faith fixes the eye on invis- 
ible and eternal realities. How few can truly say, 



FAITH. 139 

" O God, my heart is fixed." It was faith that en- 
abled Moses to endure as seeing him "who is invis- 
ible," and David to say, " I have set the Lord always 
before my face." It is a wondrous telescope, showing 
us things not seen and eternal. 

This faith assures us that those unseen glories shall 
be ours. " We know that if our earthly house of 
this tabernacle were dissolved, w T e have a building of 
God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the 
heavens." " We know" — it is not said we hope or we 
think, or that it may be so. There is an assurance, a 
"full assurance," a satisfactory assurance — we know. 
This faith prepares us for the possession of those 
glorious realities by sanctifying our natures and fitting 
us for the white-robed company. ' ' Every man that 
hath this hope in Him purifieth himself, even as He 
is pure," — "purifying their hearts by faith." 

We read of weak faith, of an increase of faith, of 
great faith. These and similar terms show it is pro- 
gressive. As pure air, healthy diet, and exercise, de- 
velop the physical powers, and give strong muscular 
faculties, so an atmosphere morally pure, and the 
bread of fife with the sincere milk of the Word, and 
a proper exercise of our graces, will develop a strong 
faith. Practice makes perfect. Let the "breastplate 
of righteousness," and the "shield of faith" be kept 

bright by use. 

" Guard thy faith with holy care, 
Mystic virtues slumber there; 
'T is the lamp within the soul, 
Holding genii in control ; 



140 THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT. 

Failh shall walk the stormy water ; 

In the unequal strife prevail; 

Nor when comes the dread avatar, 

From its fiery splendors quail. 

Faith shall triumph o'er the grave, 

Faith shall bless the life it gave." 

I can not close my remarks upon this precious 
fruit of the Spirit without saying, that in my opinion 
it was faithfulness, integrity, or fidelity, that was in- 
tended; that faithfulness to God and man which 
springs from faith in him, and in his promises to us. 
I am the more convinced of this because of the rela- 
tion it sustains to the cluster of graces as they are 
presented. We have noted the three inner graces, or 
fruits, comprising the first cluster, love, joy, peace. 
These are the three felicities and blessednesses of Chris- 
tian life, giving existence and strength to the Christian 
virtues. Then come the three active graces, of long-suf- 
fering, gentleness, and goodness, pointing out the duty 
of endurance from others, of a kindly disposition toward 
others, and of active benevolence to all. Then, next 
in order, come three manifest qualities of character, 
faithfulness or fidelity, meekness, and temperance. 
These three are the most visible of all to the eye of 
the world, and of greatest importance in illustrating 
the outward life of a true Christian. The apostle is 
not speaking here of the feeling we have toward God, 
but of the influence of the Spirit in directing and con- 
trolling our feeling toward men. 

True religion makes a man faithful. The Chris- 
tian is faithful as father, son, husband, brother, citi- 



FAITH. 141 

zen, and neighbor. He is faithful to all his promises ; 
he will keep all his contracts, meet all his engage- 
ments, and never betray the trusts reposed in him. 
Of such a man it may be said, as it was said of Reg- 
ulus in Roman history, "It is easier to turn the sun 
from its course than to turn him from the path of 
honor." There are men, who, like John the Baptist, 
could speak the truth which had made their own 
spirits free, with an ax above their neck. There have 
been men regenerated in their inmost soul, on whom 
tyrants and mobs have done their worst, and who, 
like Stephen, when the stones crushed in upon their 
brain, or their flesh hissed or crackled in the flames, 
were calmly superior to it all. 

We have a fine illustration of Christian fidelity in 
the case of Paul. That apostle kept the faith at 
Antioch, even when the infuriated crowd attempted 
to drown his voice with their clamor and interrupted 
him, " contradicting and blaspheming." He kept the 
faith at Iconium, where the envious Jews stirred up 
the people to stone him. He kept the faith at Lystra, 
when the fate of Stephen became almost his, and he 
was dragged, wounded, and bleeding outside the ram- 
parts of the town, and was left there to languish, and, 
for aught they cared, to die. He kept the faith against 
his erring brother Peter, and withstood him to the 
face, "because he was to be blamed." He kept the 
faith when shamefully treated at Philippi, and made 
the dungeon echo back the praises of his God. He 
kept the faith at Thessalonica, when lewd fellows of 



142 THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT. 

the baser sort accused him falsely of sedition. He 
kept the faith at Athens, when to the world's sages 
he preached him whom they ignorantly worshiped as 
"the unknown God." He kept the faith at Corinth, 
when compelled to abandon that obdurate city and 
to shake off the dust from his garment as a testimony 
against it. He kept the faith at Ephesus, when he 
pointed his hearers, not to Diana, but to Jesus Christ 
as their only Savior. He kept the faith at Jerusalem, 
when stoned by the enraged mob, when stretched 
upon the torturing rack and bound with iron fetters. 
He kept the faith in Csesarea before the trembling, 
conscience-stricken Felix, when he reasoned of right- 
eousness, temperance, and judgment to come. He 
kept the faith before Agrippa, even when taunted by 
sneers ; and in the closing hours of life, when the last 
storm was gathering over his head, when lying in the 
dark and dismal Roman cell, he wrote these triumph- 
ant words: "I am now ready to be offered, and the 
time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a 
good fight ; I have finished my course ; I have kept the 
faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown 
of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, 
shall give me at that day." That was faithfulness to 
a trust God had given him. 

We have also a fine example of fidelity to Christ 
in the words of a pious bishop who had been brought 
before a heathen king. The monarch demanded that 
he should renounce his belief and bow down before 
the idols. But the bishop refused and said, "No, 



FAITH. 143 

king; that I will never do." Kage seized the king, 
and he cried out in ire: "Dost thou not know that 
thy life is in my hands, and that I can kill thee ? A 
word from me and it is done." "That I well know," 
answered the bishop; "but first allow me to relate to 
you a parable, and I beg you to answer me a ques- 
tion. Suppose that one of thy servants, most true 
and faithful, should fall into the power of thine ene- 
mies, and they, trying to shake his fidelity, should 
seek to make him a traitor to thee and thy house, 
but not being able to destroy his faithfulness, should 
then strip him of his raiment, and chase him away 
with mockery. Say, O king, when he came thus 
naked to thee, wouldst thou not give him the costliest 
garments and cover him with honor?" The king 
replied: "Most assuredly I should; but what has this 
to do with this case?" And the bishop answered: 
"Now see; thou canst strip me of my earthly body, 
but I have a Lord who will clothe me anew. Shall 
I, then, value my raiment more than my faith?" The 
king was silent. At last he spoke, "Go; thy life is 
spared." 

There is also a good illustration of fidelity in the 
answer of George III: "I can give up my crown, 
and retire from power ; I can quit my palace, and live 
in a cottage; I can lay my head upon a block, and 
lose my life; but I can not break my oath." We see 
self-sacrificing fidelity in a noble brigade at the battle 
of Waterloo. They had a most important post as- 
signed them, and every thing depended upon their 



144 THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT. 

fidelity in keeping it. They were very fiercely assailed 
by the impetuous French, and their numbers were 
fast growing fewer. Courier after courier dashed into 
the presence of the duke of Wellington, asking for 
reinforcements or relief in some way. By all these 
couriers the duke sent back the same spirit-stirring 
message — "stand firm!" An officer hastened to the 
duke urging for help, as they were pressed very hotly. 
The same strong word was uttered by the duke — 
"stand firm!" The officer replied as he hastened to 
his post, "You'll find us all there." They were all 
there; they were faithful to their post of duty, and 
their faithfulness had much to do in deciding the 
contest of that day. 

When Kossuth, escaping the pursuit of the Cos- 
sacks, sought the protection of the sultan, that mon- 
arch offered him safety, wealth, and high military 
command if he would renounce Christianity and em- 
brace the religion of Mahomet. A refusal of these 
conditions for any thing he knew to the contrary 
would be equivalent to throwing himself upon the 
sword of Russia, which was whetted for his destruc- 
tion. And this was his answer: "Welcome, if need 
be, the ax or the gibbet; but evil befall the tongue 
that dares to make to me so infamous a proposal!" 
That was fidelity. 

Valens, the emperor, a zealous Arian, went around 
upon a visiting tour through his dominions for the 
purpose of bringing his subjects to confess the same 
faith as himself. In this progress he and his prefect 



FAITH. 145 

came to Csesarea. The prefect sent for Basil, and 
after a little altercation he asked him if he was not 
ashamed to profess a different faith from that of the 
emperor. Basil intimated that he thought it better to 
stand alone by the side of the truth than to have all 
the world on the side of error. The prefect lost his 
patience and began to talk of other weapons than 
those of argument. "Are you not afraid to oppose 
me?" he said to Basil. "Why should I fear?" an- 
swered Basil. "What will happen?" The prefect, 
swelling with rage, and almost choked with passion, 
gasped out convulsively, " Confiscation, banishment, 
torture, and death !" " Have you nothing else?" asked 
the undaunted bishop ; "for nothing you have spoken 
of has any effect on me. He that has nothiug to lose 
is not afraid of confiscation. I have nothing you can 
take, only these threadbare garments and a few books. 
And as to banishment, you can not banish me ; for 
the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, whose 
stranger and pilgrim I am. As to torture, the first 
stroke would kill me ; and to kill me is to send me to 
glory." " No man ever spoke to me like that before." 
said the crestfallen official. " Perhaps you never met 
a Christian bishop before," was the reply. " As for 
me, I have no fear." Basil's day of clouds and storms 
was followed by a tranquil sunset. He closed his eyes 
upon this scene of trouble, to open them upon the 
unbroken calm that abides on the everlasting hills. 

" Art thou faithful ? Then oppose 

Sin and wrong with all thy might; 
10 



146 THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT. 

Care not how the tempest blows, 

Only care to win the fight. 
Fight, though it may cost thy life; 

Storm the kingdom, but prevail; 
Let not Satan's fiercest strife 

Make thee, warrior, faint or quail. 

Perish, policy and cunning ! 

Perish, all that fears the light! 
Whether losing, whether winning, 

Trust in God and do the right. 
Some will hate thee, some will love thee, 

Some will flatter, some will slight; 
Cease from man, and look above thee; 

Trust in God, and do the right." 
Amen I 



MEEKNESS. 147 



VIII. ]Meeki|e^. 

"Blessed are the meek." "He will beautify the meek 
with salvation." 

MEEKNESS is called by the apostle praotes, a word 
which means " mildness of spirit." The Latins 
called a meek man mamuetus, which means ' ' used to 
the hand," an allusion to the system of taming and re- 
claiming creatures wild by nature and habit, and bring- 
ing them to be mild and gentle. So the influence of 
the Holy Spirit calms the impetuous dispositions, and 
teaches men lessons of submission and of meekness. 

There is a natural meekness of temper or spirit, an 
easy-going flexibility of character, which is the fruit 
of temperament or constitution. There is also an 
ethical or moral meekness, an amiable and a beautiful 
virtue, which is the fruit of education and mental 
training. But the meekness here alluded to is the 
direct result of the influence and operation of the 
Divine Spirit upon the human heart, by which the 
"wild olive tree" is grafted into the good olive, and 
made to yield fruit unto holiness. 

Meekness is a quality of mind which holds in check 
our angry passions ; which gives sweetness to our tem- 
pers, dignity and kindness to our words and actions. 
Free from censoriousness, and reluctant to offend, it is 



148 THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT. 

not easily ruffled by provocation. It blends the harm- 
lessness of the dove with the gentleness of the lamb ; 
it bears injury without resentment, or a disposition to 
revenge. It enables its possessor, while it is censured 
and reviled, to remain undisturbed, as the island stands 
fixed amid the raging of the stormy waves. 

Meekness, in the school of the philosophers, is a 
virtue holding a middle place between the extremes 
of rash and excessive anger on the one hand, and an 
absence of anger on the other — a mean which Aris- 
totle confessed it was very hard exactly to gain. 
Meekness, in the school of Christ, is a grace wrought 
by the Holy Ghost in the hearts of believers, teach- 
ing and enabling them at all times to keep their 
passions and dispositions under the government of 
reason and religion. As a Christian virtue it is forci- 
cibly recommended to our practice by the example 
and precepts of our blessed Savior. It consists not 
only in an unresisting, but a forgiving temper — a tem- 
per that is unruffled by injuries and provocations. 
It is, however, an infirmity and an evidence cf weak- 
ness if it springs from a want of spirit or self-respect, 
or from an unconsciousness of what is due to ourselves 
as men or as Christians. As a natural temper or the 
product of our constitution, it may sink into mean- 
ness and servility ; but when it is an acquired tem- 
per, built upon principle, and molded into a habit 
of the mind, it is one of the grand characteristics of 
the religion we profess. 

By meekness, mildness of spirit, or quietness of 



MEEKNESS. 149 

temper, I do not mean that disposition which yields 
a ready compliance to the voice of the deceiver, and 
allows the introduction of error in doctrine or vicioua- 
ness in practice. I do not mean a passive tamenesa 
of spirit, which knows nothing of "resisting unto 
blood, striving against sin." It is not a passiveness 
produced by ignorance or a stupid insensibility. It is 
not a timid cowardice that fears to reprove the wrong, 
and half-sanctions rather than censures the wrong-doer. 
It is not servility or a base cringing of spirit to the 
dishonorable or the sinful. It is not stoical indifference. 
Jesus was meek, and the great pattern of meekness, 
and yet no nature was more sensitive than his. The 
softest zephyr rippled the deep crystal fountain of his 
heart, and yet he spoke in thunder tones words of 
cutting and startling reproof against all the popular 
forms of wrong. 

It is not timidity ; it is the calm energy of the 
soul rising into conscious might. It is the calm en- 
durance of insult and injury, with a firm belief that 
the justice of God will vindicate us. It is a grace 
that lives and grows in a heart too great to be moved 
by little insults and puny wrongs. Its exercise makes 
the soul great, while it is an evidence of soul-great- 
ness. It is not weakness, it is strength. It is a vic- 
tory over ourselves, and the rebellious passions and 
tempers of our nature. It is the self-restraint of a 
spirit which has learned gentleness in the school of 
Christ. It is the ruling of one's own spirit, the quiet- 
ing of intestine broils, the putting down of an insurrec- 



150 THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT. 

tion at home ; it is the keeping of the whole man in 
subjection, peacefully, to the law of God. It is power 
blended with gentleness, boldness combined with hu- 
mility, the harmlessness of the lamb with the prowess 
of the lion. It is the soul in the majesty of self-pos- 
session, elevated above the precipitant, the irascible, 
the boisterous, and the revengeful. It is the soul 
throwing its benignant smiles on the furious face of 
the foe, and penetrating his heart and paralyzing his 
arm with looks of love. 

Like all other holy tempers and graces, meekness 
originates in right views of the divine character and 
of the claims of God upon us. To him who has fully 
consecrated his whole being to God there is a firm 
conviction that God has a right to do with him, as 
his creature, whatever he pleases, and that, in the 
exercise of that right, God is uniformly guided by in- 
finite holiness, wisdom, goodness, and love; and that, 
under such heavenly direction, protection, and control, 
he is safe in all the varying circumstances of life, and 
in silent, sweet submission he can say, "Here am I, 
let him do to me as seemeth good unto him;" "The 
will of the Lord be done." This meekness is mani- 
fested in the cheerful submission of the soul to every 
word of God. The understanding is seen to bow to 
every divine truth, the will to every divine precept, 
and both without murmuring or disputing. 

This is "receiving with meekness the ingrafted 
word," with a sincere desire to learn, and a sincere 
willingness to be taught the whole will of God. 



MEEKNESS. 151 

Meekness leads us to sit with Mary at the feet of 
Jesus, and makes us to say, like Samuel, "Speak, 
Lord, for thy servant heareth ; " or like Paul, when 
he first began to submit to Christ, "Lord, what wilt 
thou have me to do." Meekness says, with a good 
man, "If I had six hundred necks, I would bend 
them all to the Word of the Lord." 

Meekness is seen under the afflictive providences 
of God, in times of trial, of sad and sore bereave- 
ment, of mysterious crosses and losses, in seasons of 
persecutions and sore conflicts. It is seen in govern- 
ing our own anger, in calming the spirit, in silencing 
the murmuring tongue, in cooling the warmth of pas- 
sion, in exercising the law of kindness to the unde- 
serving, in bearing patiently the anger of others, in 
giving soft answers to rough questions. But I must 
not here enlarge. The law of meekness is, " If thine 
enemy hunger, feed him ; if he thirst, give him drink ; 
for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his 
head." 

"So artists melt the sullen ore of lead, 
By heaping coals of fire upon its head ; 
On the kind warmth (he metals learn to flow, 
And pure from dross, the silver runs below." 

There is often a beautiful blending of majesty and 
humility, magnanimity and lowliness, in great minds. 
The mightiest and holiest of all beings that ever trod 
our earth was the meekest of men. The Ancient of 
Days was an infant of days. He who had listened to 
nothing but angel melodies from all eternity, found 



152 THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT. 

while on earth melody in the lispings of an infant's 
voice, and in the outcast's cry. No wonder that an 
innocent lamb was his emblem, nor that the anoint- 
ing Spirit came to him in the form of a dove. John 
and James in their zeal would call down fire from 
heaven on the Samaritan village; he, in his meekness, 
rebukes the vengeful suggestion Peter cut off the 
ear of one of his master's enemies ; Jesus in his meek- 
ness touched it and healed it. Arraigned at Pilate's 
bar, how meekly does he bear the wrongs and indig- 
nities heaped upon him! Suspended on the cross, 
he meekly prays for his murderers. Xeed we wonder 
that meekness and poverty of spirit should stand out 
foremost in his own cluster of beatitudes, and that he 
should single out this quality from among all the 
other virtues for the peculiar study and imitation of 
his apostles : "Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly 
in heart;" or that the apostle should exhort us " by 
the meekness and gentleness of Christ?" How dif- 
ferent the manliness of the world — "resent that af- 
front," "vindicate your honor." Jesus says, "over- 
come evil with good." The meek Christian has within 
him a perpetual mine of sunshine, a perennial well- 
spring of peace. He has an almost perpetual Sabbath. 
The anger of a meek man is like fire struck out of the 
steel — hard to get out, and when got out soon gone. 
Meekness not only gives great peace of mind, but 
often adds a luster to the countenance. "We read of 
only three persons in Scripture whose faces shone re- 
markably — namely, Christ, Moses, and Stephen — and 



MEEKNESS. \;>l\ 

they were eminent for meekness. We never lose any 
thing by meekness. Abraham yielded to the ambi- 
tious claims of his nephew Lot, and though the whole 
land was Abraham's, he gave Lot the right to eh 
Lot took that right, and made his choice, and lost all. 
Abraham was blessed in what fell to him. "The 
meek shall inherit the earth." God, who is the true, 
proprietor, loves no tenants better than the meek, and 
never grants to any larger leases than he does to them. 
Meekness is love at school — love at the school of 
Christ learning of him who was meek and lowly. It 
is true Christian humility. It is the disciple learning 
to know himself, learning to fear and distrust himself. 
It is the disciple practicing the sweet but self-empty- 
ing lesson of putting on the Lord Jesus, and finding 
all his righteousness in Christ. It is the disciple 
learning the defects of his own character, and taking 
hints from hostile as well as friendly monitors. It is 
the disciple praying and watching for the improve- 
ment of his talents and the amelioration of his char- 
acter. It is the loving Christian at the Savior's feet, 
learning of him the sweet lessons of submission and 
trust. Meekness is imperfect if it be not both active 
and passive; if it will not enable us to subdue our 
own passions and resentments, as well as qualify us to 
bear patiently the passions and resentments of others. 
See Jesus in the judgment hall, the very incarnation 
of strength; yet when revilings were loud around 
him and charges were multiplied against him, he 
"held his peace." 



154 THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT. 

In the life of Oberlin it is recorded that, having 
received warning that some of the uncivilized and 
brutal persons in his parish had formed a plan for 
waylaying and inflicting upon him a severe castiga- 
tion, he took for his text in Church on the Sunday 
upon which he was told the outrage was to be perpe- 
trated these words of our Savior: "But I say unto 
you, that ye resist not evil; but whosoever shall smite 
thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also," 
and proceeded from these words to speak of the Chris- 
tian patience with which we should suffer injuries and 
submit to false surmises and ill-usage. After the 
service the conspirators met at the house of one of 
the party to amuse themselves in conjecturing what 
their pastor would do when he should find himself 
compelled to put in practice the principles he had so 
readily explained. What, then, must have been their 
astonishment when the door opened and Oberlin him- 
self stood before them? "Here I am, my friends," 
said he, with that calm dignity of manner which 
inspires even the most violent with respect. "I am 
acquainted with your design; you have wished to 
chastise me because you consider me culpable. If I 
have indeed violated the rules which I have laid down 
for you, punish me for it. It is better that I should 
deliver myself into your hands than that you should 
be guilty of the meanness of an ambuscade." These 
simple words produced their intended effect. The 
peasants begged his forgiveuess, and promised never 
again to entertain a doubt of his sincerity. 



TEMPERANCE. l.V> 



IX. ¥eir\|)efkqde. 

TEMPERANCE as a fruit of the Spirit is, though 
the last-named, not the least valuable, nor the 
least difficult to mature. It means self-control iu the 
exercise and enjoyment of all our faculties, desires, 
passions, and dispositions — that self-rule which a man 
has over all the propensities and inclinations of mind 
and body. "He that hath no rule over his own 
spirit is like a city that is broken down and without 
walls." 

The Greek word for temperance is compounded 
of en, "in," and kratos, " strength" and means "self- 
control." It has reference to the power or ascend- 
ency which w r e have over ourselves. It denotes the 
ability to practice moderation, sobriety, or temper- 
ance in meats, drinks, dress, style, and any thing and 
every thing w'herein our mental tastes and bodily 
appetites are gratified or delighted. With us the 
"word "temperance" is now used in a much more lim- 
ited sense, as referring mainly to abstinence from 
intoxicating drinks. But as here used it is employed 
in a much more extended signification. It includes 
the dominion of "self" over all evil propensities, and 
may denote continence, chastity, self-government, 
moderation in regard to all indulgences as well as 



156 THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT. 

abstinence from intoxicating drink. As a fruit of the 
Spirit temperance leads a man to restrain all his pas- 
sions, appetites, and tempers; to have the complete 
mastery of self. Paul says, "Every man that striveth 
for the mastery is temperate in all things ;" that is, 
is self-controlling. The candidate for victory as a 
pugilist or runner, or wrestler in the ancient games, 
in order to win a corruptible crown, was accustomed 
to subject himself to a regimen of strict temperance in 
all things. How much more should we who are striv- 
ing for a crown that fadeth not away. The Christian 
will not only abstain from intoxicating drinks, but 
from all bodily excesses and all exciting passions, and 
from every indulgence that might in any way impede 
him in his Christian race. 

There are many that enlist in the work and war 
for Jesus, who are, no doubt, in earnest, but who, 
when the battle between the flesh or the carnal mind, 
and the spirit is put in array, instead of exercising all 
the powers of the new nature and trusting God for 
grace to conquer, yield to their fleshly tastes, appe- 
tites, and habits, and are easily cast down and con- 
quered. Yes, conquered! And that, too, by an 
enemy as insignificant as a wine-cup, a pipe, an ale- 
pot, a frivolous fashion, or a loved idol. They are 
intemperate in the use of meats, or drinks, or dress, 
or sleep, or pleasure, or recreation; and instead of 
rejoicing in the glorious liberty of the Gospel, and 
exercising the power of self-control, they are slaves 
of habit and of sin. True, they may cry out in agony 



TEMPERANCE. 1 g 7 

against the oppressor, and writhe -in anguish oi soul, 
as did Israel in Egypt, but they do not arise in their 

strength and go up and possess the goodly hind. 

The fruit of the Spirit is seen in the firmness and 
self-government which enable the man to give up all 
for Jesus and lay his body, soul, and spirit upon the 
altar; which enables him to eat and drink, to dress, 
to sleep, and pray with a desire to please God. "He 
uses this world as not abusing it;" "is temperate in 
all things;" "whether he eats or drinks, or whatever he 
does, he does all to the glory of God." 

There is nothing more common than to hear profess- 
ors of religion saying, in reference to habits acquired 
before they professed to give their hearts to God, "O 
I wish I could give it up; I have tried to do without 
it; I know it is not right, but it is so hard." What a 
confession of weakness ; what an evidence of carnality. 
No power over self, no rule over appetite or passion! 
Still the child of creature delight ! 

Our word "temperance" as already stated, has 
long been used chiefly in reference to abstinence from 
intoxicating drinks. In this sense, also, it may be 
called a "fruit of the Spirit," for while under the 
teachings of the Spirit, a man must avoid intemperance 
in all its phases ; if his religion does not teach him so- 
briety it is not worth having. No man can indulge in 
acts of intemperance, and retain the evidence of his 
acceptance with God. There are few sins that more ef- 
fectually grieve the Holy Spirit or bring more scandal 
upon the cause of God. But as Paul uses it here, 



158 THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT. 

and when addressing Felix and Drusilla, it is em- 
ployed in a much more extended signification. It in- 
cludes the complete and constant control of ail evil 
propensities, the government of all the natural appe- 
tites and passions, tempers and dispositions, and the 
right and proper use of all our temporal enjoyments — 
in a word, all that is chaste in thought, pure in 
action, and holy in life. 

"The precept that enjoins temperance 
Forbids man none but the licentious joy, 
Whose fruit, though fair, tempts only to destroy." 

Temperance is self-restraint, se]f-control, self-com- 
mand, self-culture, self-preservation, self-government. 
It involves the subjection of the appetites, passions, 
and propensities to our higher nature, our reason, and 
conscience; and this is essential to our moral excellence 
and spiritual welfare, to the approbation of God, to our 
enjoyment of him and communion and fellowship with 
him. At the same time, and by the same process, it 
is essential to the most healthful condition of our in- 
tellectual and physical natures, powers, faculties, and 
capacities, the control and use of cur minds and our 
bodies, and the prcper exercise and best use, preser- 
vation, and enjoyment of them. Hence it involves 
no relinquishment of physical enjoyment, but pro- 
motes both physical and intellectual in harmony with 
each other. 

Can it be innocent, or can it be but slightly cen- 
surable? Can it be otherwise than sinful, amid all 
the light and information on this subject now acces- 



TEMPERANCE. 159 

sible to those who seek it, to sustain, needlessly, by 
the influence of example, the known and sole source 
of inebriation, either partial or total, incipient or 
matured, from whence spring all these combined, 
complex, and complicated evils, physical, mental, 
pecuniary, political, social, moral, religious— temporal 
and eternal ? If this be not sinful, how shall we de- 
fine or describe sin, or what conceptions shall we form 
of that divine law of which sin is the transgression ? 
Is not love to God and man the fulfilling of that law? 
How is that love manifested or made effectual by the 
drinking of intoxicating liquors, thereby sustaining 
the known and only source of intoxication, from 
whence inevitably come all these indescribable and 
measureless evils? In what manner is God glorified, 
or his creatures benefited, by the practice ? By what 
custom is the wise and benevolent Creator of man 
more obviously dishonored or his offspring more com- 
prehensively or more seriously injured, in both their 
temporal and eternal interests? If total abstinence 
from such a practice — a requirement to cease from 
doing evil — may not be enjoined as a Christian duty, 
what other abstinence may, as such, be enjoined? 

The precept, " Whether ye eat or drink, or what- 
ever ye do, do all to the glory of God," is given, how- 
ever, not in the negative, but in the positive form. 
It is a requirement, not merely a prohibition. The 
eating or drinking that does not positively honor God, 
the Creator and Giver, is positively forbidden; while 
the eating and drinking that do honor him are as 



160 THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT. 

positively required. Right motives are, of course, in- 
cluded as essential to right action ; but no plea of 
good motives will excuse willful ignorance on such a 
question or indifference to the issues involved in it: 
much less will the potent influence of example and pe- 
cuniary patronage in favor of drinking the drunkard's 
drink, and against total abstinence from it, excuse in- 
difference upon the subject. On this, as upon every 
moral question, there can be no neutrals. Least of all 
should professors of religion, ministers, and Churches 
seek to be neutral. 

Unless it can be shown that it is for the glory of 
God and the welfare of mankind that the fruits of his 
bounty, created for wholesome food, should be trans- 
formed into a deadly and demoralizing poison, and 
thus employed, we must insist that the drinking of 
that poison is sinful, except when used as a medicine, 
and prescribed by a regular physician. 

What mean such inspired admonitions as the fol- 
lowing ? 

" Abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the 
soul." (1 Peter, ii, 11.) Is not the desire of intox- 
icating drinks one of those fleshly lusts, and provoca- 
tive of all the others? (See Prov. xxiii, 31-33.) 

"Abstain from all appearance of evil." (1 Thess. 
v, 22.) Is there not even the appearance of evil, in 
drinking the characteristic drink of drunkards — the 
drink that produces all drunkenness, and all that 
springs from it? 

"Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, ac- 



TEMPERANCE. 161 

ceptable unto God." (Rom. xii, 1.) How? By 
drinking the drink that makes men drunkards ? 

"Offenses will come, but woe unto him through 
whom they come!" (Luke xvii, 1.) Through whom 
come more or greater offenses than through the drink- 
ers of intoxicating liquors? 

"Be not deceived! God is not mocked, for what- 
soever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." (Gal. 
vi, 7.) What sort of a crop comes from the seed 
sown by the so-called moderate drinker? 

The doctrine of Christian temperance admits of 
many applications. This is only one of them. 

Temperance, says Dr. Hamilton, "is love taking 
exercise, love enduring hardness, love seeking to 
become healthful and athletic, love striving for the 
mastery in all things and bringing the body under. 
It is superiority to sensual delights, and it is the 
power of applying resolutely to irksome duties for the 
Master's sake. It is self-denial and self-control, fear- 
ful lest it should subside to gross carnality or waste 
away into shadowy and hectic sentiment. Temper- 
ance is love alert, and timeously astir, sometimes 
rising before day for prayer, sometimes spending that 
day on tasks which laziness or daintiness declines. It 
is love with girt loins and dusty feet and blistered 
hands. It is love with the empty scrip, but the glow- 
ing cheek; love subsisting on pulse and water, but 
grown so healthful and so hardy that it beareth all 
things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endur- 

eth all things." 

11 



162 THE FEUIT OF THE SPIRIT. 

temperance, thou fortune without envy; thou 
universal medicine of life that clears the head and 
cleanses the blood, eases the stomach, strengthens the 
nerves, and perfects digestion, 

"'Tis to thy rules, O temperance, we owe, 

All pleasures which from health and strength can flow; 
Vigor of body, purity of mind, 
Unclouded reason, sentiment refined." 

"Temperance and proper diet 
Keep the mind and body quiet." 



The rich, ripe fruits of the Spirit — the rich clus- 
ters of grapes and holy affections briefly alluded to in 
the foregoing pages, are not called the "Works of the 
Believer," but the fruit of the Spirit dwelling in the 
new nature and working by it, which that Spirit has 
produced by the regenerating power of his grace and 
the sanctifying influence of the blood of the Lamb. 
Love of God and man, of the Savior and his people, 
of every name, of whatever condition, and of all men 
everywhere for his sake, and according to his com- 
mand and his example; a joyful, happy frame of 
mind in the salvation and service of God; a peaceful 
conscience and a submissive will, leading to peaceable 
dispositions towards all men; a disposition to bear 
injuries and affronts without seeking revenge or show- 
ing resentment; a mild, unassuming, inoffensive de- 
portment, united with beneficence and philanthropy; 



TEM PERA NCE. 1 63 

truth, sincerity, fidelity, and integrity to man spring- 
ing from faith in God and faithfulness to him; an 
humble, teachable, unambitious temper and demeanor, 
and an evident moderation about earthly objects and 
personal indulgences — these are the fruits of the 
Spirit, and "against such there is no law," for they 
are what the law requires. 



THE END. 



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